Monster Within
by biomechanical
Summary: When brutally murdered bodies start turning up throughout the city, Jack Harkness and the Torchwood team investigates. However, there is one problem. All the evidence points to one suspect, the Doctor. Rated T for language and WHUMP. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Whump notice for both Jack and the Doctor, but nothing hardcore really. Oh, there isn't any slash either.**

**This is meant to be a little out of character for the Doctor, that's part of the mystery...what happened to him? :)  
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**I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood.**

**Enjoy!  
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Teresa blinked up at the bright sun in the sky and scowled. Sure the day was a beautiful spring day in Cardiff despite the chill in the morning air, but that was the problem. At least this was a problem for Teresa. As a traffic warden, the weather never did anything to alter her constant sour mood and today was no different.

The traffic warden drew in a deep breath and adjusted her hat as she marched down the pavement checking parked car after parked car ensuring each one was properly metered. The one thing that brightened Teresa's day just a little bit was issuing a ticket and slapping the paper on the windscreen of a car. Yes, she hated her job that much.

As if fate worked to darken her already foul mood, Teresa's foot caught on something and she almost fell over. Instead, she clumsily stumbled forward. "Bloody hell!" She snarled as she caught herself on the boot of a car, thankfully not triggering an alarm, and glared down to see what snagged her foot

Teresa's expression changed from embarrassed anger to shocked horror when she realized she tripped over the bare, bloodied leg of a dead woman lying haphazardly on the ground between two cars. The traffic warden's mouth gaped open at the sight of the corpse's head lolled to the side at an impossible angle.

At that moment, Teresa's mood was no longer foul. For the first time in a long time she felt something different. Fear. With shaking hands, she grabbed her receiver and called it in.

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The beautiful spring day in Cardiff passed by unnoticed by the Torchwood team. Well, unnoticed by everyone except for Gwen. She was the only one who chose to spend the day outside the Hub, but then she was the only one with a significant other on the outside to spend the day with.

Captain Jack Harkness stood at the triangular bay window inside the conference room overlooking the main floor of the Hub. He took a sip of fresh coffee courtesy of Ianto as he watched Tosh type away at the computer. Good ol Toshiko. Always working. Never stopping. That can't be healthy, Jack thought and made a mental note to encourage her to go out and do something social.

That thought brought Jack's attention over to Owen. He was currently meticulously cleaning the examination table in the medical bay and Jack knew that that table would be absolutely spotless when he was done. Which was why Owen needed to get out more too and he should do it with Tosh before it was too late. Again.

Activity from the rift had been quiet these past several of days and it seemed like a good opportunity for the team to take a bit of a holiday. Jack smiled to himself and let his eyes fall on Ianto reading a book as he relaxed on the sofa against the tiled wall. A holiday indeed.

"Jack," Tosh called out as she stared at the array of computer monitors, "I think you should come take a look at this."

At the promise of something interesting and possibly exciting, Jack quickly walked over to Tosh's side and focused on the monitor she motioned to. "Find something interesting?" he asked as he took a drink.

"As a matter of fact, I did." She answered evenly as she continued to read the information on the screens. "The morgue just finished the autopsy of a woman that was brought in yesterday afternoon. An organic substance of unknown origins was discovered on the body."

Jack nodded once and crossed his arms. "Okay. I'd like you and Owen to go check it out."

Tosh shot him a look that wasn't much different than a deer caught in headlights, and she frowned slightly at Jack's knowing grin. "Alright," she said quietly and pursed her lips as she gathered her equipment and wondered if Jack did that on purpose, asking her to go with Owen.

She looked after her boss thoughtfully as he headed to the medical bay to let Owen know about the body and impending road trip with Tosh. If Jack did do it on purpose, she knew he was just trying to be nice. Her feelings for Owen was the best known secret at the Hub, and Owen's untimely death made it that much harder for her to cope with those feelings.

The man in question strode up to her as he pulled his leather jacket over his shoulders. "Ready?" Owen asked with his usual crooked smile.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and nodded with a strained smile. "Yes, and I'll drive this time."

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A misty rain fell from the night sky, but it was the chill in the wind that made the young waitress shiver. A stark contrast from the bright sunny day of earlier, Sarah thought, but that's typical spring weather in Cardiff for you. With a sigh of reluctance in leaving the warmth of the diner, Sarah locked the door behind her and headed into the rain.

Clutching her thin coat tightly around her, Sarah walked quickly to the car park across the street. Nervously, she looked around the wide open lot. The last thing she needed was her jerk ex-boyfriend showing up and harassing her…again. She swore to herself that tomorrow, she was finally getting a restraining order. However, much to her relief, there was no one around. Other than her own car parked next to the amber-lit lamp post, the car park was empty.

A gust of wind kicked up and carried with it a strange grinding noise that sent shivers up Sarah's spine. She walked hurriedly to her car as she dug into her handbag in search of her car keys. The surge of fear reminded her just how cold she was, and she silently cursed her violently shaking hands as she fumbled with the keys.

Then the unthinkable happened, Sarah dropped the keys.

Fighting back the panic attack that threatened to overtake her, Sarah closed her eyes and focused on the simple task of picking the keys up. Suddenly, an arm wrapped around her waist and a strong hand covered her mouth that did well to muffle her screams. She clawed frantically at the arms that held her tight and she kicked out her legs against the car, but the man's strength was incredible and unforgiving.

Sarah's abductor dragged her backwards kicking and fighting through a doorway with blue double doors. There was no wondering how there could be such doors so close to her car as Sarah reached out and franticly pawed at them. She only just barely missed an edge that might have helped her escape. Instead, her fingernails raked across the painted wood panels as she struggled to grab a hold of anything to break free from the man that held her.

Once inside, the doors slammed shut submerging the strange circular room in a low yellow light barely bright enough to see by. Sarah was too afraid to pay much notice to her unusual surroundings as she was thrown face down to the smooth floor. She whimpered at the throbbing pain in her elbows and knees from the hard landing.

Tears streamed down Sarah's face and running mascara burned in her eyes. Still, she lifted her head to see the person who grabbed her, but her gaze made it no further than his dirty white trainers and the cuffs of his brown pinstriped pants when she felt his foot dig painfully between her shoulder blades.

"W-what do want with me?" asked Sarah between sobs.

No answer came from the man and instead she felt a soft rope slide around her neck almost as if the rope had a life of its own. "No! No, please no!" Sarah begged and struggled fruitlessly when she realized what was happening. Suddenly the rope stiffened like a hard cable and dug tight into her throat, cutting off her pleas.

As she choked for breath, she felt a fist slam into her ribs sending sharp pain shooting down her body. Did he break her ribs? Another fist slammed into the same place and she heard a very audible snap. Now she suffered broken ribs, but her suffering was not over yet.

Blow and after blow landed on her arms and sides, and Sarah prayed that it would stop. But the torment didn't stop, and that man just continued to strike her over and over until her vision closed in around her. There was nothing she could do as she learned that this is what it was like to die.

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To be continued.

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**A/N: What do you think so far? Please let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

A black SUV with pulsing blue lights in the windows and the unmistakable letters spelling out 'Torchwood' etched on the front fenders screeched to a halt behind a parked police car. A small crowd had gathered at the yellow barrier tape trying to see what could be seen around the officers blocking their view, but that didn't stop the Torchwood team.

Jack was the first to climb out of the vehicle and he drew in a breath of the chilled night air as he stared at the crime scene ahead. He only wished the alien substance was a known one, it would have made his job incredibly easier. But then, where would be the fun in that?

When Own confirmed the substance on the body discovered by the traffic warden was indeed alien, Toshiko immediately set up a program to alert her if another body matching the first appeared at any of the police stations or morgues across the city. It worked and just twenty minutes ago, the body of a woman apparently bludgeoned to death in a car park was called in.

Owen and Gwen came up on either side of Jack each carrying a small plastic crate filled with various tools and supplies that might be needed for examinations. Tosh fell into line behind her teammates after quickly double checking the contents of her satchel. Once they were ready, Torchwood entered the crime scene.

After pushing the police officers back away from the body far enough so they could talk freely, Owen sat his crate down and crouched down beside the corpse to begin a cursory examination.

The deceased young woman lay on her back staring lifelessly into the night sky next to the only car in the car park. Her limbs rested at different angles, but not broken and her hair matted with blood stuck close to her head. The misting rain that fell from the night sky made her pale flesh glisten unnaturally in the light.

Jack stood over Owen with his hands in his coat pockets. He stared at the body with a mixture of sadness and envy. Sadness that such a young woman with her whole life ahead of her now laid dead in a parking lot, and envy that the poor girl had accomplished something he couldn't, something he found he wished he could, the ability to die.

"This one's just like the other one," Owen said in his typical dry tone as he examined the girl's body by the light of a torch. He gently touched the side of the corpse. "Badly beaten, I'd say there are at least four broken ribs. Look at all these cuts nicely done with a knife. All random like some sort of twisted fun time. She has a broken neck too, but I can't be sure if that's what killed her."

"What was her name?" Jack asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Sarah Altson." Toshiko answered from where she stood a few feet away scanning the air with a thoughtful frown. "Nineteen. Lived with her parents and worked at that diner across the street."

"CCTV?"

"I'll have to check on that back at the Hub, but we might be in luck," Tosh said and looked up at a small white box bolted to the top of the street light.

"Jack, I'm going to talk to the parents," Gwen said as she came up beside him. "Find out if she had a boyfriend or maybe the wrong kind of friends, that sort of thing."

Jack nodded. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. We need to find out if there's anything connecting these two women besides how they died."

"I'll do my best," she said and mentally prepared herself for the difficult conversation she was about to have with a pair of crying parents currently being held at the police barrier.

Once Gwen walked away, Jack returned his focus to the body. "Is there anything different with this one? Any trace of that alien substance?" he asked Owen.

"I'll have to take her back to the Hub for an autopsy that will shed some light on what exactly happened to her," Owen said.

"Sure thing," Jack said as he stared down at the face of the girl with a thoughtful, but sad expression.

"Oh, hang on now. What do we have here?" Owen held up the girl's hand and looked closely at her fingernails.

"What is it?" Jack asked and leaned over for a closer look.

"Looks like…paint chips. Blue paint chips."

Jack stared at the paint chips in disbelief. He recognized that shade of blue.

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He was late and he knew it as he hurried down the pavement. At this point, Jim hoped beyond hope that he didn't blow it with Tiffany. She was a really hot girl from the gym and he couldn't believe that she actually agreed to meet him for drinks at the pub. They'd set the date for twenty-one hundred and he didn't want to ruin his one and only chance. Only he was ruining it because he was already ten minutes late.

Jim shoved his hands in his pockets and quickened his pace.

A strange whooshing sound caught Jim's attention as he passed by an alley and he stopped to see what could be making such an eerie noise. The alley was narrow and dark with the brick walls of the buildings on either side making it seem more foreboding then it really was, but none of that mattered compared to the translucent blue box flashing in and out of existence.

Jim froze at the entrance of the alley as he stared in disbelief while the box finally materialized into a solid, tangible thing. The flashing white light on top of the box switched off letting the soft glow of the police public call box sign stare back like a strange creature in the dark.

Slowly, the door of the blue box creaked opened and Jim took a step closer as he strained to see inside. He could see nothing but blackness at first, but as he took another step closer, he could see the very faint glow of a soft amber light coming from the middle of a room that shouldn't be there.

Curiosity finally got the better of Jim's sensibilities and he cautiously approached the strange police box standing there in mysterious silence. A shiver went up his spine as he leaned in to peer through the open door. "Hello?" he asked and swallowed at the fear in his own voice.

Suddenly, an arm shot of the darkness just inside the door and wrapped iron strong fingers around his throat. Jim gasped in surprise of the sudden attack. His eyes bulged in shock and terror as he tore at the brown pinstriped sleeve of the arm that held him by the neck impossibly tight.

His assailant pulled him forward into the police box with enough strength that Jim stumbled through the doorway. He staggered into the dimly lit circular room and the attacker used that momentum to trip and shove him face first onto the glassy smooth floor.

Jim coughed while he lay on his stomach and rubbed his throbbing throat. He moved to roll over but was stopped when his attacker dug a foot into the small of his back. Jim groaned in pain and he felt tears roll down his cheeks in fear.

"P-please." Jim begged as he turned his head and stared up at a lanky figure silhouetted in the door frame of the police box. He tried to focus on the man's face but could only really make out the spiky hair on the man's head. Then, he felt a rope curl around his neck seemingly on its own and he fought to get his fingers around it.

As if he were a rag doll, Jim choked out a cry as he was effortlessly dragged up a ramp toward the center column. He was lifted off his feet by the rope and slammed into a strange computer console that wrapped around the glass column. The sound of two loud snaps from his chest and the accompanying searing pain as he hit the console took over Jim's focus and he screamed.

But Jim didn't consider himself a weakling by any means and he refused to go out like this. With a renewed determination to live, he grabbed a hold of the rope around his neck and tried to pry it off. Much to his dismay, the rope maintained an iron-like grip, and his frustration melted into terror when he caught the flash of a knife in the hands of the madman now standing over him.

The doors of the police box slammed shut sealing Jim's screams in the darkness forever.

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To be continued.

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**A/N: thank you for the reviews, favs and alerts so far. I really appreciate it!**


	3. Chapter 3

Jack stood in the narrow alley and looked up at the cloudless blue sky. The day was too lovely to be investigating a gruesome murder, he thought. He would rather be sitting in a pub with a pint in hand then deal with this, but he knew he had too. Aliens were involved and that point brought up another series of thoughts Jack really didn't want to think about.

The blue paint chips Owen found under the nails of the girl in the car park was an all too familiar color of blue, but Jack didn't dare mention this to the team. They would start asking questions that not only he didn't have the answers for, but he didn't want to those questions asked in the first place. He wasn't ready for that. Besides, with the broken CCTV camera at the car park, there was no point in even thinking about those questions. Yet.

"That confirms it," Toshiko said from just a few feet away.

Jack turned his attention to Tosh as she crouched down and held her scanner over the dirty ground of the alley. He held a still unwrapped chocolate bar in his hand and he was about to open it, but he decided to drop it in his coat pocket for later.

"I'm picking up temporal energies here too," Tosh said. "Definitely right at this spot and definitely the same type of energy I detected at the sites of the other two victims."

Jack closed his eyes and internally fought back a creeping despair. Blue paint. Temporal energy. Alien DNA. He didn't like where this line of evidence was going, but thankfully it was the alien DNA found on all the victims that made him pause on that train of thought.

The DNA didn't match any alien known in the Torchwood database, and for Jack, that was a good thing because it meant they were dealing with an entirely new alien threat. Still, this fact did not explain the blue paint and temporal energy, and that left Jack pondering a possibility.

"So whatever we're dealing with might not have come through the Rift," Jack said to Tosh as he rubbed his chin in thought and frowned.

"I'm not finding the usual evidence of Rift related activity here," Tosh said as she tucked the scanner back into her satchel. "But that doesn't mean it isn't related. We just don't have enough information yet to know for sure."

"You're right," said Jack. "We're still in the dark on this thing. Owen, let's take Jim here back to the Hub. I want a full autopsy."

"You got it, boss," Owen said and began packing his tools back into the plastic crate.

"That's the third murder victim in as many days," Gwen said in a grim tone. "Any ideas, Jack?"

Jack shook his head as he stared down at the body of a man that been tortured and murdered in the same fashion as the two women. "I have one, but I don't like it." He gave Gwen a concerned look, and she could see that he was also worried and afraid.

She wanted to press him for more, but she knew he wouldn't tell her, at least not yet. So, as a good friend, she nodded and followed him back to the SUV for a quiet ride back to the Hub.

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"I love you, Shelly," Eric said as he jogged down the steps of his girlfriend's flat. Well, his girlfriend's parents flat. He looked up at his girlfriend with the sparkly of love in his eyes and grinned as she playfully waved good-bye to him from the door.

Once they were old enough, he was going marry that girl. He made that vow to her and knew in his heart that he meant the promise. The only thing that frustrated him most was that he had to wait at least three years because while he was sixteen, she was only fifteen.

Oh, young love.

With a heavy sigh, Eric headed down the pavement on the long walk back to his parent's flat. He grimaced when he looked at his watch. It was late and he knew his parents were going to be none too happy at him for not being home when they wanted him to be. Still, he wasn't too worried about it because none of it mattered when he was so much in love.

He rounded a corner that he walked a million times before and almost slammed into the side of a blue police public call box that had not been there when he walked through here just a few hours ago.

"Where did this thing come from?" he asked aloud as he stared up at the lit call box sign.

Eric crunched his eyebrows as he gave the box a scrutinizing look. After a moment, he decided that it wasn't worth his time to ponder over some old police box that was probably put here as some sort of joke. He kicked the side of it and started to walk around it.

As he passed in front of the box, the doors opened suddenly, and a startled Eric yelped and jumped back a step. He couldn't believe his eyes as he stared into a strange circular room with golden walls covered in portholes. Even more bizarre was the glass column rising out of the center of a console covered with buttons and switches.

The soft hum emanating from the impossible room seemed to alleviate his fear and beckon him to enter. Curiosity took over and Eric took a step inside the blue police box toward that center console. He stared at the strange room around him trying to make sense of it all.

Suddenly, the doors slammed shut behind him with an echoing bang and the lights went out encasing Eric in pitch darkness. He spun around on his heel and pulled on the doors that wouldn't budge. As he felt a rope slip around his neck, he pounded on the doors that locked him in and closed the world off from his screams.

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Owen, Tosh and Gwen settled into their seats at the table in the conference room at the Hub. Ianto came in shortly after carrying a tray of coffee mugs that he handed to each of his teammates before taking a seat of his own. Finally, the man everyone was waiting for walked into the room and took a seat at the head of the table.

"Alright," Jack said in an even tone. "This alien murder case. What do we know so far? Owen?"

"All four victims were violently tortured before they were strangled to death," Owen said. "Each one showed signs of being sliced up with a large sharp knife and beaten with either a fist or a blunt object."

"You can't tell which?" asked Jack.

"I'm actually leaning toward fist, but that would mean the alien is very strong because it was able to break ribs in a single blow. I do know that the alien has very human like hands. I found a hand print on Jim's back."

"Well, that helps us narrow down what kind of alien we're dealing with, doesn't it? How may aliens have human hands?" asked Gwen.

"A few," Jack said to Gwen and looked at Tosh. "I expect a list from the database on my desk shortly after this meeting." He knew of one particular alien that would be on that list.

"Of course," Tosh said with a nod.

"Anything else you can tell us, Owen?" Jack turned the medic.

"Don't know if it means anything, but the marks left around the victims throat suggest they were led around or dragged by whatever the alien used for rope." Owen shrugged his shoulder.

"You can't tell kind of rope was used?"

"Not exactly," Owen said. "The pattern is irregular, so it has to be something organic, like regular rope, but that doesn't explain the slimy residue left behind. If I didn't know better, I would say that whoever's doing this is spitting on the rope. But why, you've got me."

Jack nodded slowly in thought and took a moment to mull over the information. "What about the blue paint?"

"Definitely not of this earth." Owen answered and crossed his arms as he leaned back in the chair. "I crossed referenced the chemical make-up of the paint to every paint company known around the world and couldn't find a match. But I did find wood fibers."

"Wood fibers?" Gwen asked.

"Yep," said Owen with a slight smug tone. "Embedded in the paint and get this. Good ol Earth pine. That's what confused the hell out of me."

Jack leaned back in his chair with his brows furrowed in thought. What was alien paint doing on wood from Earth? Why was it the same blue as a certain police box he knew? None of this made any sense and while the unknown alien substance remained a mystery, all information was quickly adding up to only one possible suspect and Jack feared the worst.

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To be continued.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: What the Doctor is doing may be clearly out of character, but that's all part of the mystery. I'm glad the story is compelling enough to you guys interested, and thank you to everyone for the reviews so far, it means a lot to me. Happy reading!**

**Sorry about the double email notice. I had to upload the chapter again after it was showing a page display error.  
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Jack stood at the handrail overlooking the medical bay with a hard expression staring at the latest corpse. Yet another body was found beaten and strangled. An Eric Swanson and he had nothing in common with the other victims other than the way he was murdered.

One question repeated in his mind over and over, could it possibly be the Doctor? No. He refused to even think it. Plain and simple. But there was the evidence, wasn't there? How could that be ignored? He furrowed his brow and frowned; he didn't like where his thoughts were taking him.

"Jack!" Tosh called to him from her station.

At the startled tone of her voice, Jack spun on his heel and jogged over to his teammate. In a few moments, Owen, Ianto and Gwen gathered behind him.

Tosh pointed to a monitor playing a black and white video feed from a surveillance camera. "I was going over the CCTV at a petrol station where another body was found. I thought we should take a look at it before we went to the scene, and," she said with a shaky voice. "Well…just watch the replay." She tapped a button and all eyes of Torchwood Cardiff watched the monitor in silence.

The black and white video showed a woman walk into view from around the corner of the building. She had a cup in her hand and it was clear that the cup was attached to a key to the public restroom door. The woman fumbled with the key and the lock a moment, and when she finally got the door open, she paused and slowly turned to look at something behind her.

There was no sound to the video feed, but Jack leaned closer to the monitors as he searched for what the woman was looking at it. There was nothing at first, but an unmistakable police box with a flashing light on top slowly materialized out of thin air not ten feet away from the woman.

The woman let the restroom door close behind her and she pressed her back against it as she stared at the box in disbelief when the doors of the box opened. A lanky man with spiky hair wearing a dark suit and white shoes appeared in the doorway and waved at the woman. She slowly waved back.

Suddenly, the man bolted to the woman and grabbed her arm. She struggled against him, but he effortlessly dragged her to the police box and shoved her face first through the doors. The woman staggered inside and the man paused. He turned and looked up at the camera a moment with a blank stare, and then jumped inside the police box closing the doors behind him.

Jack felt a tear fall down his cheek as he stared at the monitor in utter horror and shocked disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was seeing and struggled to come to terms with the very real fact of everything he knew about his old friend shatter into pieces as he continued to watch.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. The police box stood there in an eerie stillness, not even the lights in the sign wrapping around the top of the time ship wavered. Finally, one of the doors opened and the limp body of the woman was tossed out as easily as one would toss a rag doll.

Her corpse landed unceremoniously to the ground and the man in the suit stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. He wore a satisfied expression as he looked at the lifeless body a few moments before turning around and disappearing inside the blue box.

Once the door was closed, the time machine pulsed and faded until it vanished completely.

"What the hell was that?" Owen asked no one in particular, but looked in Jack's direction.

Jack didn't answer. Instead he wiped away the tears that threatened to pour down his cheeks and fought to control his quivering lower lip. There were no words to really describe how Jack felt at seeing his friend on that video save one, devastation.

"Jack?" Gwen asked softly when she saw the captain's face and gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

He shook his head. "No," he whispered a dazed response. "That can't be him, Gwen. That can't be the Doctor."

"Jack, we all saw the video. Maybe he-" Gwen started.

"No!" He shouted and faced her with such a hurt look, Gwen's heart nearly melted. "There has to be a reasonable explanation!"

"And there very well might be, but we can't deny the evidence."

"Seems to me the Doctor cracked," Owen said with a dismissing shrug of his shoulder. "Or he's finally showing his true colors. I mean he is the reason Torchwood was founded in the first place, you know, to fend off alien threats."

Jack answered Owen's comment by slamming his fist into the side of Owen's face.

Owen staggered back from the blow and Tosh yelped at the sudden attack. "Hey! Don't break my jaw, damn it!" Owen held a hand to his cheek as he glared at Jack. "You know I can't heal!"

Jack grabbed Owen by the lapel of his jacket and yanked him close. "Don't you ever say that about the Doctor! You hear me?" He snarled and shook Owen as he spoke.

"Get your hands off me." Owen warned as he snatched his jacket collar out of Jack's hands.

"Alright." Gwen stepped in between the two men and pushed them apart. "Let's just calm down, okay?" She looked at Owen who held a dark gaze on his boss, but finally he nodded and took a step back. Then she turned to Jack and raised her eyebrow expectantly.

He took a deep breath and nodded his head. "Sorry," he said quietly.

"It's okay," Gwen said. "We know the Doctor is your friend, but you saw the video, yeah?"

Jack nodded and dried his eyes once more with the back of his hand.

"Right now we have only one conclusion until new evidence presents itself. In the meantime, we should focus on one thing, finding the Doctor. If anyone has the answers, he does."

Jack nodded and looked at the floor. "You're right, Gwen."

"Right." Ianto nodded thoughtfully. "So, how exactly are we going to find an alien with a police box time machine that comes and goes as he pleases?"

Jack pulled his mobile out of his pocket and stared at the screen. "I call him," he said and gave his teammates a grim look.

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The Doctor stood in front of a standing mirror in the console room set between the pair of seats. He smiled at the familiar thud the TARDIS makes when she lands. After a pleasant phone conversation with Jack Harkness needing his help and therefore inviting him to the Torchwood Hub, he was in an excitedly great mood.

He grinned at his reflection. "I can't wait to see the look on Jack's face when he sees me," he said to the mirror as he adjusted his tie and straightened his brown pinstriped suit jacket. "Do you think he'll be surprised? I sure do."

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Jack pressed a button on his mobile and ended the call. "He's on his way," he said quietly and drew in a deep breath as he shoved the phone back into his pocket.

Ianto, Gwen, Own and Tosh drew their weapons and made sure each had sufficient ammunition, just in case.

"I really hope we won't need those," Jack said as he watched his teammates with his arms crossed.

"We're going to let you do the talking," Gwen said and holstered her pistol. "And even if he turns hostile, we're not going to use these unless absolutely necessary, okay?"

Jack stared at her a moment and turned his gaze to Own, Tosh and Ianto. Each nodded once. "Okay," he said. "I'll want to try to subdue him and get him into a cell before anyone even thinks about shooting him. And if he tries to run, he'll go straight for the TARDIS, so cut him off and don't let him in."

Everyone nodded.

"Great," Jack said. "Alright, let's all act natural. I don't want him to think anything's up when he gets here. I'll be in my office."

Owen turned and went to the medical bay where he resumed an examination of the body of the latest victim. Tosh walked over to the computer and stared at the readings on the monitors. "I'll just make some fresh coffee," Ianto said and headed off to the kitchen. Gwen followed Jack to his office.

"Are you sure about this?" Gwen asked Jack.

He fell into his chair and breathed a deep sigh. "No." He looked up at her with sadness in his eyes. "But I have to find out what's going on, Gwen. I have to know why he's doing…th…" Jack couldn't finish his sentence. It just hurt too much to say it.

Gwen took his hand into her own. "Don't worry, Jack. We'll get to the bottom of this."

"I know. That's what I'm afraid of."

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To be continued.


	5. Chapter 5

The air within the Torchwood Hub stirred thick with anticipation. Even though each team member went about their normal daily tasks, the waiting was beginning to wear thin, especially for Jack. He paced about the Hub with a worried expression and a cup of coffee in his hand.

Ianto made sure that cup was full of coffee at all times, even when Jack didn't seem to notice him filling it. He could see that the man of his affections was troubled and hurt, so of course he would do anything he could to ease that pain as much as he could.

"When the hell is he going to get here?" Owen broke the heavy silence with his aggravation.

Jack stopped his pacing and glared at Owen with a dark look.

"He'll get here whenever he gets here," Gwen said rolling her eyes at Owen.

"For a time traveler, the Doctor sure is taking his sweet time," the surly medic said and crossed his arms.

"Do us all a favor and shut up, alright?" Jack said in a threatening tone.

Owen opened his mouth to say something more, but at the warning look Toshiko shot him, he shrugged his shoulder. "Eh, not worth it," he said under his breath and decided to take a seat on the sofa.

Finally, the moment they were waiting for arrived. A light breeze swirled through the air and a grinding wheezing sound steadily grew louder as the blue police box materialized on the platform across from the rift manipulator. With a soft thud, the ship landed and the pulsing light on top of the box turned dark.

Tosh, Gwen, Ianto and Owen remained where they were as they watched the time machine materialize, each wearing expressions of concern. Jack drew in a deep breath and took a couple of steps toward the TARDIS. He wasn't sure what to expect.

The door to the police box swung open with enthusiasm and the man Jack knew as the Doctor stuck his spiky-haired head out with a wide grin. "Allo, Jack!" The Doctor said in a cheery tone. "You said you needed my help?"

The horrible images from the camera feed replayed through Jack's mind as he looked at his friend and it must have showed.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked staring at Jack with a raised eyebrow as he took a step out of the TARDIS.

"Yeah, of course I am." Jack forced the images away and gave the Doctor a pleasant smile. "I've just been a little distracted lately. Come on in, Doctor. Have you met everyone?" He motioned over to the rest of the Torchwood team.

The Doctor looked at Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto with a friendly smile. "You and I have met," he pointed to Gwen and Ianto, "but I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you." He stepped around Jack and held out his hand to Tosh and Owen.

"Owen." He introduced himself and narrowed his eyes at the Doctor as he shook the Time Lord's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Owen," the Doctor said and turned to Tosh.

"I'm Toshiko, but everyone calls me Tosh," she said with a forced smile.

As the Doctor turned away, Tosh and Owen exchanged slightly disgusted looks as they wiped their hands unthinkingly on their pants. The Doctor's hand seemed a bit on the sweaty side.

"Very nice to meet you. Well, I suppose you know I'm the Doctor?"

Everyone nodded once.

"Brilliant." He smiled and turned to Jack with an expectant look. "So, what did you need my help with?"

Jack watched every move the Doctor made with scrutiny, trying to determine if there was anything different about the Time Lord, anything that would offer a clue of something wrong. There was nothing. As far as he could tell, the man standing before him was the Doctor. Still, just to play it safe, he would continue with the plan.

"Well, we caught this alien creature that came through the Rift and I was hoping you could tell us what it is," Jack said.

"You mean the world isn't ending? You called me all the way here just to identify some alien?"

Jack nodded and held up his hands with a smirk. "Yep. Got me."

"Oh, alrighty then." The Doctor smiled. "Let's have a look."

The captain smiled and motioned toward the door leading to the cells. "Right this way." He shot a glance back at Gwen and the others signaling them to stay alert as he led the Doctor into the cellblocks.

"So, you're traveling alone these days?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Yes," the Time Lord said his voice darkening a bit as he spoke. "They all get hurt somehow. I just can't stand it anymore, Jack. So…well, I would rather be alone."

They reached the inner door and Jack pressed a button on the wall next to it. "I don't see you as someone who can stand being alone for very long," he said and motioned for the Doctor to enter the short hall of a cellblock.

"I'd rather be alone then see the ones I care about getting hurt, or worse." The Doctor walked forward, looking around him taking in all the details as always and frowned. "Kinda dirty down here, don't you think?"

"Oh, they don't seem to mind," Jack said as he looked into a cell at a weevil crouched against the back wall.

At the sight of Jack and the Doctor, the weevil jumped to its feet and charged the plexi-glass door. After it slammed itself against the door, it sniffed the air and paused, staring at the Doctor. The weevil spun abruptly on its heel and retreated to the back of the cell whimpering in fear.

Jack looked at the Doctor, who seemed oblivious to the weevil's reaction as he continued toward the end of the cellblock, but Jack had never seen the weevil cower in front of anyone, not like that. Could the weevil know a Time Lord when it sees one, or is there something else going on, Jack thought.

He snapped out of his thoughts and focused on the task at hand. He didn't like what he was about to do, but he'd rather explain to an angry Time Lord then let a dangerous threat roam around unchecked.

"Um, Jack," the Doctor said as he stood at the door of an empty cell, "I think your alien got away." He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and waved it around the air.

Jack paused and stared at the sonic. The device wasn't the silver blue tipped sonic he knew the Doctor to have, rather this one was bronze with an ivory handle and green light set in a metal claw that opened when the Doctor finished scanning.

He couldn't ponder the sonic's strange appearance any further, if he was going to carry through with the plan, he had to act now. Jack stepped forward as the Doctor turned to him and snatched the sonic from him hand. Before his friend could react, Jack shoved him on the shoulder hard enough to send him staggering backward into the cell.

With tears welling up in his eyes, Jack slammed the cell door shut. He leaned his forehead on the door. "I hope you can forgive me, Doctor," he said quietly and looked up at the Time Lord.

The Doctor stood up straight and slowly turned around. He stared at Jack with a dark, yet smug look and it was an expression that Jack did not expect. The Time Lord took one calculated step after another closer to the cell door maintaining eye contact with Jack entire time.

"Plan on keeping me here, Jack?" The Doctor asked in a low, threatening tone.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I really am." Jack pleaded and let a tear stream down his cheek. "I don't know what happened to you, but I want to help you."

"I don't need any help," the Doctor said as he curled his fingers through the round holes cut into the door. "But you do." With an evil grin, the Doctor yanked on the door and effortlessly ripped it off its hinges.

Jack was taken aback. He knew the Doctor possessed a super-human strength, but this was unprecedented. Without thinking twice, he pulled his pistol out of the holster and aimed it at the Time Lord. "Please don't make me do this," he said through his welling tears.

The Doctor answered with a wider dark grin and quickly darted forward. He grabbed Jack by the wrist, twisted up and smiled at the contorted look of pain forming on Jack's face. "Drop it," the Doctor whispered. When Jack opened his hand and the pistol fell to the ground, the Doctor twisted around until he stood behind Jack and held the captain's hand painfully behind the man's back. He gently slipped the sonic out of Jack's other hand and dropped it back into his jacket pocket.

"Why are you doing this?" Jack asked with pain and the desperate need to understand thick in his voice.

Drawing a long breath as if he were inhaling Jack's scent, the Doctor leaned close to the captain's ear as he wrapped his other arm around Jack's neck. "Do they know you're immortal?" he asked in a low voice. "Delicious."

Being that close to the Doctor would have been a huge turn on for Jack if this was any other situation, but instead this show of unbridled darkness from his friend frightened him more than anything he'd ever encountered. "What happened to you?" He turned his head so the Doctor could see the hurt look in his eyes.

"Enough questions," the Time Lord said and pushed up on Jack's twisted arm. "I'm leaving and I'm taking you with me."

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To be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I promise you that you will find out what's going on, some of you may have even figured it out, but in the meantime, the story must move along. Thank you to everyone for the favs, reads and reviews! You are awesome!**

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"Shit," Owen said tersely as he stared at the monitor currently displaying the cellblock. "Well that worked out lovely, now didn't it?" He stepped away from the monitor and drew his pistol. He moved quickly toward the cellblock door and stood ready. When he glanced over his shoulder and realized his teammates were still at the computer, he sighed. "Well come on then!" He shouted. "You heard Jack. Don't let the Doctor get to the TARDIS."

Gwen pursed her lips and gave Tosh and Ianto a strained look as she pulled out her pistol. When they saw Gwen stand at the ready, Tosh and Ianto followed suit. All four exchanged glances and knew that they just might have to do what had to be done to stop the Doctor.

The door to the cellblocks slowly creaked open revealing the Doctor with his arm around Jack's neck holding him tight against the chest. He squeezed to make Jack choke slightly and to show that he was quite capable of causing him harm. The Doctor pushed forward keeping his eyes on the Torchwood team blocking his path to the TARDIS. "Move aside," he said in a low warning tone.

"Doctor," Gwen pleaded and kept her gun down by her side, "please don't do this. Let Jack go."

"Move aside." The Doctor pushed up on Jack's arm twisting it further up his back and Jack cringed in pain. "Or I'll kill him."

"Go ahead," Owen said and pulled the hammer back on his pistol.

"They know," Jack said through the pain.

"That changes nothing," the Doctor said and he released Jack's arm to pull out the sonic screwdriver.

Now that his arm was free and tingling sharply as the blood rushed back through, Jack saw his opportunity and took it. With all the strength he dared to muster against his friend, he slammed his elbow into the Time Lord's ribs.

The Doctor grunted at the blow, but didn't loosen his hold around Jack's neck.

Jack struck again and once more, but the Doctor didn't seem to be affected by the attack. Instead, the Time Lord flexed his arm into Jack's throat as he pushed forward intending on rushing the human's that stood in his way.

However, Jack had other plans.

He planted his feet firmly on the ground, grabbed a firm grip with both hands on the Doctor's arm around his neck and pulled. He bent over successfully yanking the lanky Time Lord forward and over his back.

The Doctor cried out in surprise of the sudden movement that vaulted him through the air, but he retained his wit and managed to land on his feet. He gave Jack a dark smile as he reached out and wrapped his thin fingers around Jack's throat holding him at arm's length.

Jack instinctively grabbed at the hand that held him in an iron grip and was again startled at the Doctor's unbelievable strength. Try as he might, he couldn't even budge the Doctor's fingers. He watched helplessly as the Time Lord held up the strange sonic screwdriver and aim it at his teammates.

Gwen, Owen and Ianto raised their weapons and aimed at the Doctor.

"No!" Jack struggled to shout through his choked throat, but it was too late.

The sound of gunfire and the squeal of the sonic screwdriver erupted in a cacophony of deadly noise at once, but it was over just as quickly.

Whatever setting the Doctor used on the sonic, Ianto's, Tosh's and Gwen's pistols misfired in their hands and they cried out as they dropped the burning weapons to the floor. Owen, who was off to the side, escaped the effects of the sonic and successfully fired.

The Doctor bolted toward the TARDIS pulling Jack along behind him by the neck. The bullet Owen shot hit the Time Lord in his outstretched arm. Black blood oozed from the wound, the Doctor seemed not to notice.

Owen fired several more times, but missed his target as the Doctor luckily, and perhaps effortlessly, dodged the bullets as he dashed to his time ship with Jack in tow.

Jack struggled against the Doctor, but his efforts were fruitless as he was thrown helplessly into the TARDIS just as easily as that poor woman was thrown out of it. The image from the CCTV flashed through Jack's mind when he landed flat on his stomach inside the time machine. No wonder those people didn't stand a chance, the Doctor was incredibly strong and disturbingly vicious.

The captain slowly climbed to his hands and knees coughing away the pain in his throat. He lifted his head and chanced a look around the console room only to be shocked once again by how different the room appeared.

Gone was the grated flooring and coral support columns Jack was so familiar with. Instead, the console room had a more machined feel with a sweeping ramp leading up to an elevated platform with the control console as the center piece. The room was different, even the three rounded tiered glass mechanism inside the glass column rising out of the center of the console, yet undeniably familiar.

Maybe this man wasn't the Doctor after all, Jack thought feeling a bit of relief for the first time since this all started that the murders just maybe weren't committed by his dear friend after all. Maybe this was somehow another Time Lord in another TARDIS. He remembered the unknown alien substance and hoped he was right.

At the sound of the TARDIS doors slamming shut, Jack's expression grew dark when he saw the Doctor standing there with a smug grin on his face. The Time Lord sauntered up to Jack and delivered a sharp kick hard into the captain's side.

"Can't have you recovering so soon," the Doctor said with a chuckle as he stood over Jack and watched him writhe in pain.

"What…have you done…with the Doctor?" Jack asked with a labored breath as he clutched his side.

The Doctor looked confused a moment and then tossed his head back in manic laughter. "You think you are so clever, don't you," he paused to kick Jack in the stomach again, "Jack?" He kicked yet again and reveled in the choking groans escaping the captain's lips. He grabbed the incapacitated Jack by the ankle and dragged him up the ramp toward the console panel.

Jack moaned as he was dragged and retained consciousness despite the pain. The Doctor dropped his ankle when they reached the console and his leg fell like a dead weight landing with a resounding thud on the glass floor. He managed to lift his head and look through tear blurred eyes at the Time Lord currently tapping the keys of an antique typewriter set in the console.

The captain rolled to his side in a weak effort to climb to his feet. Whether that was the Doctor standing over there or not, the murders had to stop and Jack had to be the one to stop it. With determination, he climbed to his hands and knees and reached up to the console for support as he pulled his pain riddled body to his feet.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" the Doctor asked in amusement.

"This ends right now, Doctor," Jack said, the determination thick in his voice and as he glared at the face of the Doctor, the one alien he loved so much yet could never have, he realized that he may have to do the unthinkable. An act that despite the evidence, the horror, everything, he wasn't sure he'd be able to do it.

Jack may have to kill the Doctor.

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The shots rang out through the Hub as Owen fired his pistol again and again until the gun clicked empty. "Damn!" He yelled as the Doctor escaped into the TARDIS with Jack as his prisoner. Shoving the pistol in its holster, Owen jogged over to Gwen and Ianto who were holding their hands in pain from the sonic attack.

"Looks like a minor burn," Owen said as he turned Gwen's hand over. "You'll be okay."

"It still hurts like a bitch," Gwen said with a grimace.

"What do we do now?" said Ianto as he switched his worried look to the police box.

"We reload and bust down the door with guns ablazing." Owen looked at Ianto with grim determination.

"No," Gwen said sadly. "That won't do any good. Jack once told me about how safe the Doctor is inside his time machine. How nothing can break inside it once the doors are closed."

"Oh yeah?" Owen gave her a cocky look. "We'll see about that."

Gwen was about to protest when a whooshing grinding sound emanated from the police box, the tell-tale sign the time machine was about to leave. "Oh no," she whispered.

Suddenly, Toshiko gasped and bolted toward the still solid police box. She quickly closed the distance and slammed a small device into the side of the time ship just as it began to dematerialize. Once the mission was accomplished, she scrambled away from the police box and watched with wide eyes as the time machine faded away.

"Tosh," Gwen rushed up to her friend, "what did you do?"

"A tracking device," Tosh said as she caught her breath. "It isn't much, but it'll signal us the next time the Doctor is in our time."

"And by then, it may be too late." Gwen shook her head. "Only Jack can stop the Doctor now."

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To be continued.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack lunged forward and took a swing with all the strength he could muster. His fist landed square and solid on the Doctor's face with enough force to turn the Time Lord's head.

Slowly, the Doctor turned his head back with a dark smile, leveling an even gaze on Jack.

Was he immune to pain too, Jack wondered and braced for the coming attack. He expected a punch or a kick, but instead the Doctor grabbed his wrist lightening fast and yanked hard. Thrown off balance by the sudden and unexpected maneuver, Jack staggered forward and that was when the Doctor landed a blow to his chest that turned into a push slamming him onto the console.

"Aren't you going to be fun," the Doctor said with a dark laugh.

"Not in the least." Jack lifted his leg and planted his foot in the Doctor's stomach. He pushed hard and forced the Time Lord to take a couple of steps back. Just what Jack needed. He leaped off the console and charged.

The Doctor easily deflected the charge and used Jack's lumbering momentum to send him off to the side.

Fortunately for Jack, he landed on the thick padded chair. Not so fortunate he landed stomach first. With the wind knocked out of him, Jack slumped down to his knees and groaned in pain and fatigue. He felt defeated. Even though he couldn't die, he still lived like a human being and right now, he hurt like one too.

He was helpless as the homicidal Time Lord wrapped both hands around his neck and lifted him to his feet. He was swung around and shoved face first into the console. He felt his head break some of the dials and maybe a lever or two. He also felt his own warm blood slowly ooze out a gaping wound on his forehead.

The Doctor released Jack's neck and for a moment, Jack thought the losing battle was over. Then he felt a soft rope slither around his throat and Jack was confused at how the rope seemed to be moving on its own. He turned his head to see more of the strange rope, but was instead met with a fist cracking down on his head just above the eye.

The sudden and new pain shocked through Jack's skull. He moaned, dazed from the blow, but was somehow acutely aware of the tears streaming down his face. So, this was it, he thought as he was struck in the same place again and again. Beaten and strangled to death by his friend, the Doctor. No. He had to stop this.

Somehow, his mind earned some clarity through the haze of physical pain and emotional hurt. He tried once more to move, to fight, to somehow stop the Doctor. His attempts were feeble at best and he found he couldn't even begin to work free from the Time Lord's hold.

"Still some fight in you, I see," the Doctor said. "I think it's time I put an end to that."

Jack opened his eyes and blinked away the tears and blood seeping in. He stopped short at the sight of his own eyes reflected in the highly polished blade of a carving knife.

"How many times can you be stabbed before you die?" the Doctor said in a disturbingly evil tone as he slowly lifted the knife up and out of Jack's view.

He knew it was coming and gritted his teeth in anticipation. He knew what to expect. The feel of the knife sliding in was like an old friend conjuring up painful memories out of spite. Jack had been stabbed numerous times before in his immortal life, but this time hurt more than any other.

The Doctor quickly pulled the blade out letting the blood splatter across the console and stabbed again. He repeated the merciless attack until Jack's body finally fell limp. "You didn't even beg, you son of a bitch," he said in genuine disappointment and dropped the bloodied knife to the floor.

He grabbed Jack by the collar of the military coat, pulling him off the console, and heard a faint moan. "Oh, you are still alive," the Doctor said sounding rather amused in a vicious way.

Suddenly, the rope around Jack's throat stiffened like a steel cable and once again, he gasped for breath. He was lifted off his feet by the rope that seemed to have a life of its own and through his blurring vision, he stared at the strange rope. Was it coming out of the Doctor's back? Then, he was thrown at a standing mirror propped up between the two cushioned chairs.

Jack expected to crash into the mirror, but the sound of breaking glass and the expected pain did not happen. Instead, he went through the mirror as if it were liquid and landed on the floor of a dark room on the other side. His foggy, barely conscious mind couldn't comprehend what just happened as he lay on the cool smooth surface.

Sharp pain throbbed in his ribs and back, and blood flowed much too freely from the countless stab wounds. He was dying; he knew it better then anyone. As he lay on his back staring up at nothing, all he could think about was that terrible expression of pure glee on the Doctor's face as he died.

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Gwen settled into a chair at the conference table next to Toshiko. "That was a really good idea," she said to her co-coworker. "Testing the sweat from the Doctor's hand for a DNA match…" She nodded her head and smiled.

"Thanks," Tosh said and smiled sheepishly.

Owen finally sauntered in with Ianto following behind him. As Ianto took a seat, Owen walked up and tossed a manila folder across the table toward Gwen. She caught it and opened it revealing the papers clipped inside. While she read the top paper, Owen looked at the rest of his teammates. "The DNA from the Doctor's hand matches the DNA found on the victims," he said with a slight hesitation as if there were more to say.

"But according to this," Gwen looked up from the paper, "that DNA isn't the Doctor's."

"So what you're saying is…" Tosh started to say.

"That man, whoever he is, might have looked like the Doctor, but he isn't a Time Lord. He's some other kind of alien." Owen finished.

"I'm sure Jack would be relieved to know that," Gwen said. "Whenever he is by now."

"Heaven help him," Ianto said.

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Jack opened his eyes and drew in a deep breath as he resurrected yet again. Once the realization that he was alive set in, he sat up and looked at his surroundings.

The small room, roughly twenty feet wide, had marble smooth black walls, black floor and a presumably black ceiling since it was impossible to tell through the darkness. The only source of light came from the thin rectangular window set in the wall near where he lay.

Jack focused on that window and jumped to his feet. Through it, he could see the console room from between the two chairs, where the mirror sat. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen. The captain pounded on the glass with all his strength hoping it would break and when that didn't work, he felt around the edges for anything he could pry loose. There was nothing. The window made a smooth and seamless transition from glass to wall.

He moved along the wall, running his hand across its smooth surface looking for anything that would help, but whatever that place was, it was the perfect prison. As he approached the back wall, something on the floor in the shadowed corner caught his eye.

Cautiously, Jack made his way toward what appeared to be a pile of clothes, but as he came closer he determined the pile was actually a humanoid figure lying on his or her side. "Hello?" Jack called out in a calm voice so as not to startle the person. When there was no response, he crouched down next to the figure and gently laid his hand on the person's shoulder. "Hey there," he said softly, but quickly lifted his hand when the person flinched under his touch.

Slowly, the figure stirred and turned his head.

Jack could see the face of a young man underneath the stubble of a beard and the mop of brown hair. His eyes were red and sunken, and there were a series of long, healing scratches across his right cheek. He wore a tattered tan tweed jacket and black pants and boots. A red bow tie hung loose and undone around his neck. The man blinked tears and sleep out his eyes as he looked up at Jack, and he sniffed. "Chocolate…" he said in a cracked voice.

"Chocolate?" Jack asked and realized that the man seemed thin, a bit too thin perhaps. The tell-tale signs of starvation.

"Hmm, and peanuts," the young man said turning over and weakly propped himself up on an elbow as he sniffed again, this time toward a pocket on Jack's coat.

Then Jack remembered the chocolate bar and pulled it out. "You have a pretty good nose, friend." He smiled as he removed the wrapping off the chocolate and handed it to the man.

The young man took the candy and eagerly bit off quite a large bite. "Oh, mmm," he said through his full mouth. "Thank you, Jack! This is just what I needed." He smiled wide and took another bite.

"Yes, I'm Jack. Captain Jack Harkness." Jack tried to hide his confusion as he regarded the young man because he was sure he'd never met this man before. He would have remembered the bowtie. "Have we met?"

The man swallowed the last of the chocolate, and with a renewed sense of energy, he sat up and grabbed Jack by the shoulders. "Jack, my old friend," he said with a grin. "I am so glad to see you here," his grin changed to worry, "no, not here. Oh no. Why are you here?"

Jack stared at the strangely familiar face looking back at him trying to figure just who this man is. But somehow, deep down, he already knew the answer. "Doctor?"

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To be continued.


	8. Chapter 8

"Yes, yes, that's me." The man smiled and rested his hands on Jack's shoulders. "I'm the Doctor." His smile widened as he looked at Jack expectantly.

Jack's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he managed to speak again. He was relieved to have found the Doctor, but he had to be sure this wasn't some sort of trick. "How can I know for sure it's you? You don't like the same," Jack said. "And that," he motioned toward the window, "looked like you. The you that I know."

The Doctor frowned and released Jack's shoulders. He thought a moment and as he did, he felt his mind come alive and pull itself out of the despair it had tumbled into. He was beginning to feel like himself again. "I've got it," he said with a hopeful smile. "Feel my pulse." He held up his wrist.

Jack pressed two fingers on the Doctor's wrist and frowned. "I feel two heart beats, but that doesn't prove anything."

"Fair enough," the Doctor said with a thoughtful frown. "Did you see it, the other me, bleed?"

"No," Jack said quickly, but hesitated. "Wait. I might have. The Doc-…the other you, was shot in the arm."

"Did you see black blood?"

Jack nodded.

"Good. Now we're getting somewhere." He pulled back the jacket sleeve on his right arm and revealed a deep rough wound, like it was gouged by an animal's claw. Red-orange blood still seeped through a loosely formed scab. "Time Lord blood, yeah?" the Doctor asked.

Jack stared at the wound with a nod and slowly accepted that this man was indeed his old friend. "You've regenerated then," he said with a grin as he looked the Time Lord over one more time.

"Yeah." The Doctor's face fell as his memories took him back to that final moment when the man in the pinstripe suit became the man in the tweed jacket.

"Well," Jack smiled coyly, "you look so…young."

The Doctor laughed softly. "Jack, I'm nine hundred and thirteen years old. I'm getting old!"

"Hey, no complaints over here." Jack winked and the Doctor chuckled with a shake of his head. "Not too sure about your new fashion sense, though," Jack said. "Tweed and a bowtie? Really?"

"Hey." The Time Lord looked offended and quickly tied the bowtie around his neck with a wince of pain. "Bowties are cool."

"If you say so." Jack laughed but his laughter faded when he noticed the Doctor's pained look. He frowned at the wound on his friend's arm. "Let me see your arm. Do you have anything to wrap it with?"

The Doctor pulled a purple handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and sat up fully, resting his back against the wall.

Jack twisted around and sat next to the Doctor. "How did you end up in here? And who the hell is that out there?" he asked as he took the handkerchief and motioned for the Time Lord to move his arm.

The Doctor sighed deeply and laid his injured arm across Jack's lap. "That monster has been murdering innocent people by the millions," the Time Lord said and hung his head. "And I couldn't stop it, Jack. I just couldn't stop it."

Jack looked at his friend and felt an overwhelming sadness at the sight of a tear tracing its way down the Time Lord's cheek. "Doctor, why don't you start from the beginning?"

"Yes, the beginning," the Doctor agreed. "Well, I left the Pond's on a nice planet for their honeymoon and headed out for a quick trip around the universe. You know…for fun."

"The Pond's?" Jack asked.

"Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Amy has traveled with me since I regenerated," the Time Lord glanced at Jack with a forlorn expression. He knew the subject of his regeneration will be raised again later. Jack is curious to know what happened, and the Doctor knew it, but that was a story for another time. "Rory joined us a short time after that. They got married. Never had a married couple in the TARDIS before."

"I can't wait to meet em," Jack said with that certain look in his eye as he finished tying the makeshift bandage.

"They're married, Jack." The Doctor gave his friend a scolding look and Jack shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to look innocent.

"Anyway." The Time Lord stretched out his legs, but left his injured arm resting across Jack's lap. "Where was I? Oh yes. A quick trip around the universe."

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The Doctor skipped around the console with a child-like enthusiasm as he flew the TARDIS through the time vortex. After dropping the Ponds off on a nice planet for their honeymoon, he picked a direction at random and went. He had no idea where the ship was taking him and that made this trip that much more exciting.

A chirping sound accompanied a flashing mauve light on the console added to the Doctor's excitement. "A distress call!" He knew he shouldn't feel excited about a distress call because those usually meant someone was in trouble, but he happened to love distress calls because it meant there was trouble with a large potential for danger, running and, oh yeah, fun.

Finally, the time ship landed - who knew where as the Doctor didn't really pay attention to that detail - with a soft thud and her engines purred as they came to a rest. The Doctor clasped his hands together and hurried to the doors. "Oookaayy, let's see what's out there!" He couldn't pull open that door fast enough, and when he did, he gasped in awe.

The TARDIS parked next to a large intricately carved statue of a horse-like creature with tentacles instead of a muzzle. It reared on its hind legs and glared menacingly down as it towered over the blue box. The statue marked the center of the circular room with mighty columns supporting a glass dome.

The white stone walls behind the columns bore faded paintings of some ancient battle and the marble tile floor still retained some of its former polished shine. The architecture reminded the Time Lord of ancient Rome or Greece on Earth, but if he knew one thing, it was that he was definitely not on Earth.

Curious to see more, the Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind him and strolled over to the only visible entrance to the domed chamber. He made two mental notes. One, the glass dome had more than a few missing panels, but there was no broken glass on the floor as if someone cleaned up the glass but had no care to replace the broken panes.

The place felt abandoned and cared for at the same time. Two, the place was silent. Too silent. It was so silent the Doctor could hear his hearts beating and while the silence was curious, it was also rather disturbing.

The Time Lord pulled out his sonic and waved the chirping device in the air around him. He smiled a bit when the readings indicated he was headed in the right direction for the source of the distress call. Tucking the sonic back into the inside pocket of his jacket, he continued under the polished archway exit and entered an indoor garden.

Stone columns around the perimeter of the vegetation supported a glass arched ceiling that allowed warm sunlight in. The vegetation grew wild and unkempt, but still there was no sound of any living creatures.

As he walked, the sounds of his movements he'd normally ignore were amplified by the silence. His boots tapped loudly on the marble path, his jacket rustled like crunching leaves, and his breath sounded like a gusting wind.

A twig snapped. The Doctor froze and he turned his gaze toward the center of the garden. Someone or something was in the garden with him. "Hello?" He called out in a friendly tone. "I got your distress call and I'm here to help." He cringed at the sound of his voice booming in the silence.

A rustling sound not too far away from where he stood grabbed his attention. The Doctor moved his head this way and that trying to see anything through the leaves and vines. "Hello," he said in a lower voice. "I'm not going to hur-"

A gray rope-like tentacle shot out from the shrubbery fast as a snake strike and wrapped thrice fold around the Doctor's neck. The Time Lord frantically tried to pull it from his throat, but its taunt strength failed to budge under his efforts. The tentacle choked him tight and he could feel his face burn from the sudden lack of air, but he was a bit more distracted by the eerie rattling sound coming from the source of the tentacle.

The Doctor watched helplessly as a bulbous fleshy mass rose above the bushes on long spidery legs. A dozen tentacles on top of the creature's grey body quickly whipped and writhed about in all directions while multiple thick eyestalks dripping with a clear slime slowly grew randomly across the top and sides. Each eye took a turn in blinking as they stared intently its catch.

"Time Lord," the thing said with a hiss as it walked through the bushes and stepped onto the marble path.

The tentacle holding the Doctor lifted him off his feet in a surprising show of strength. He felt his secondary respiratory bypass kick in and he drew in a much needed breath. "Let me go…and…w-we can talk about this." The Time Lord struggled to speak with the tentacle digging into his Adams apple.

The grotesque creature shuddered and shrank as its shape became humanoid. The eye stalks and tentacles receded away while its body refined the details of its new appearance. When it was complete, the creature was an exact duplicate of the Doctor with one exception, the single tentacle that protruded from its back still holding its prey by the throat. The imposter grinned as he reached out and grabbed the Time Lord on either side of his head.

The Doctor could feel tiny tentacles work their way into his ears and he knew their purpose. He gritted his teeth to ignore the pain. "Quite…a rubbish m-method of tele-pathy." He stammered as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the sonic.

A tentacle shot out of the creature's chest and imbedded its tip into the Doctor's forearm like a dagger.

The Time Lord yelped from the unexpected pain and dropped the sonic. In a moment of panic, he made one last frantic attempt to escape the creature, but failed. For the first time in a long time, the Doctor was over-powered and out-gunned. He screamed as the monster's tendrils slithered across his brain absorbing everything he knew.

When the creature was finished, it lowered the Doctor to his feet and loosened its grip around the Doctor's neck.

The Time Lord's head spun in dizziness and when his feet touched the ground, he continued to sink to his knees. He coughed and caught his breath, and then he checked his ears. As he expected, blood trickled out of his lobes and down his neck. He glared up at his captor as anger welled up inside him. "I'm warning you, stop this right now," the Doctor said with a snarl. "You know me. You know what I'm capable of."

His double didn't appear to be worried in the least and instead of releasing him in fear as the Time Lord hoped, it merely smiled a dark smile and picked up the sonic screwdriver. It examined the device a moment, and then aimed it at the Doctor.

The Doctor's scream of pain drowned out the buzzing sound of the sonic and the imposter laughed. "Yes I know you, Doctor," the creature said and turned off the sonic.

The Time Lord stopped screaming and breathed heavy from the pain while clutching the side of his head.

"I think I understand you quite well now," the double said with a smug grin. Without another word, the imposter marched back into the bushes.

The tentacle around his neck yanked the Doctor forward and he staggered to his feet as he was dragged like a reluctant dog on a leash.

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To be continued.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I just wanted to say thank you for the reviews so far! You guys are awesome!**

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Vines tugged and tore at the Doctor's tweed jacket, and a thorn branch slapped him across the face as he was unceremoniously pulled through the vegetation. He felt the long claw-like thorns cut into the soft flesh of his right cheek and judging by the warm sticky blood he felt oozing down his face like thick tears, he knew the cuts went deep.

The duplicate stopped in a small clearing and stood in front of a monolithic-style slab made of solid black granite polished smooth with a glass mirror imbedded into one side. The entire slab was about the size of a dressing mirror one would find on the back of a door.

The Doctor regarded the mirror with his usual curiosity, but without his sonic, he didn't know what to make of the object. He had not seen anything like it recently, though there was something familiar about it. But the throbbing pain on his face and throat distracted him from digging into how memories for an answer.

The creature pressed the palm of its hand on the mirror and turned to the Doctor with a dark smile as its hand disappeared into the mirror as if it reached through a watery surface. "Impressive, isn't it? Though you should know. This was my prison until I was accidentally released," the double said and he looked around the arboretum indicating the native people here were the inadvertent rescuers.

"What did you do to them?" the Doctor asked even though he feared he knew the answer already.

"I was imprisoned for so very long, I just couldn't help myself. I had to kill them all." The duplicate smirked at the look of disgust and hate on the Doctor's face. "Now my old prison is your new home. Pick it up and carry it."

"Do you really expect me to carry my own prison?" The Time Lord asked defiantly as he stared down his duplicate with an air of arrogance and pride.

The tentacle around his neck tightened and its great strength easily lifted him off his feet and pushed him backwards through the tangled underbrush until his body slammed into the trunk of a tree with a resounding thud. The Doctor moaned in pain on impact and drew in a deep breath that turned into a fit of coughing from inhaling bits of dust and bark shaken loose from the tree. The tentacle pulled him forward, dragging him through the underbrush again until he was on his knees in front of his dark duplicate.

"Carry it," the double demanded.

The Time Lord was at a loss for he'd never encountered a creature quite like this before, but he couldn't let it leave this planet. "No," he said not caring for how his voice croaked. "Even if I do, I'm not letting you in the TARDIS. You're never leaving this planet."

The creature sighed, but maintained a dark smile as a tentacle sprouted from its chest and shot forward into the Doctor's jacket pocket. When the end of the tendril reappeared, it had the TARDIS key wrapped in its coils.

"Okay, so you can get in, but you can't fly the TARDIS," the Doctor said. "She'll never let you."

"I know that, Time Lord," the duplicate said with a spit. "But I also know that a TARDIS will die without her pilot and you two share quite an intimate connection, don't you?"

The Time Lord frowned and felt his hearts sink.

"So I think," the duplicate continued, "she'll take me wherever I want to go as long as I have you." Without waiting for the Doctor to respond, the tentacle around his neck lifted him up again and tossed him backward into the mirror where it finally released its hold.

The Doctor landed hard on the floor inside the black walled prison, but he immediately jumped to his feet and faced his double on the other side of the glass. "Do you really think this is going to hold me forever?" He yelled. "I will find a way and when I do, you had better run. Do you hear me? Run!"

The Doctor's double merely smiled as several tentacles sprouted from its back, wrapped around the mirror prison and carried it into the TARDIS.

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Jack had remained silent throughout the Doctor's incredible tale and let out a low whistle when the Doctor finished. "A shapeshifter from Hell," he said. "And a damned vicious one too. Do you know who it is?"

"Agrastol," the Doctor said. "I didn't know that until it was too late. I've had a lot of time to think and I remember hearing a small little rumor long ago on Gallifrey about a shapeshifting creature so horrible, the Time Lords built a prison for it. No one knew if it was true or not and no one thought about it long enough to find out. It was like a story you hear and take with a grain of salt."

"If this prison was built by Time Lords, then you know how to get out of here!" Jack beamed at the Doctor with excitement because that meant escaping the prison was just a matter of time.

"Oh yes and it's quite impossible from in here," the Doctor said letting his shoulders slump even more. "Only someone on the other side can pull us out."

"Damn," said Jack and stared at his shoes in despair. He looked at the Doctor. "Why does Agrastol look like the…other…you?"

The Doctor let out a sigh and looked down at his outstretched legs. "That's the disturbing part. It simply got bored of looking like," he motioned to himself, "this. Really. It's having fun out there murdering and destroying and taking me down at the same time."

"Why?" Jack asked looking confused. "What could it possibly gain by doing that?"

"The thing out there is intelligent and cruel. Do you know why it was locked in this prison? It is a convicted murderer with no compassion for others at all. It feeds on torture, destruction and death. It despises me because it was my people who locked it away and I'm the only one left. It wants revenge."

Jack had never seen his wonderful and brave friend so defeated. His realized that there must something else bothering the Time Lord. "Has it only been to Earth?" he asked carefully.

Dropping his eyes even farther, the Time Lord let the guilt control his features as he spoke. "No. It went to a planet populated by at least a billion inhabitants. I don't know what planet or who the people were, but I do know they are all dead now. That monster managed to connect the planet's defenses to the TARDIS and burned the surface from orbit while it held the prison window at the door for me to see. It told me I did this, and Agrastol is right."

"Doctor," Jack said and gently patted his friend's hand. "I've fought that thing and lost. It's so strong, there wasn't anything you could do, so don't blame yourself. That's not going to help us get out of here." He offered a smile that he hoped was an encouraging one.

The Time Lord merely sighed and didn't raise his eyes. "It changed into my previous self when the TARDIS forced a landing in 2009 Earth. I think the old girl did that to get help. But the creature was beside itself and instead of one sweeping blow; it decided to take its time with Earth. To kill one human being at a time simply because they are my favorite." A tear streamed down the Doctor's uninjured cheek. "It made me watch, Jack. It made me watch as it tortured and murdered those people."

Jack wanted to put his arm over his old friend's shoulder, to comfort him as he shed his tears of remorse, but he knew the Doctor well enough that that would probably not go over very well. Still, he felt the despair emanating from the thankfully still compassionate Time Lord and did the next best thing.

"Come on, Doc," he said in an uplifting voice. "We have to think of way to get out of here." He climbed to his feet, ignoring the still moist blood stain on the side of his ripped over coat. He leaned over and grabbed the Doctor's hands. "On your feet, Oncoming Storm," he said as he pulled the Time Lord's arms.

The Doctor let out a soft groan and kept his legs straight on the floor. "Please stop," he said with a pained look. "I'm too tired. I'm just so tired."

With a sigh, Jack released his grip on the Doctor's hands and cringed when the Doctor let his arms fall haphazardly to his sides. "Alright, I understand." He crouched in front of the Time Lord and took a moment to observe the sunken eyes, the stubble of a beard, the way his clothes hung a bit too loose over his shoulders. "How long have you been in here?"

"Three weeks, four days and sixteen hours," the Doctor said absently.

"Have you eaten?"

"It tossed in some bread last week. Oh and there was the chocolate from you. Hm, I'm not sure I can regenerate from starvation." He looked up at Jack with those eyes; those pitiful eyes that would make just about any being feel one of two ways.

"My god," Jack said in a whisper as his anger grew like a raging fire in his chest. He stood up and marched to the window. Looking out, he tried to see where Agrastol was and at first, he saw nothing inside the empty console room. Then the imposter strode up to the monitor and Jack pounded on the window.

Agrastol looked up with a raised eyebrow, frowning in annoyance. It moved around the console until it stood in front of the mirror and shoved its hands in pockets. "You're alive again, I see," it said with a smirk.

"Give me food for the Doctor," Jack said through gritted teeth. "He's dying."

"He's not dying," Agrastol said as it rolled its eyes.

"Yes, he is. He can't even stand up. He dies, the TARDIS dies. Now give me some food!"

With no warning, a gray rope-like tentacle shot out of the creature's chest and wrapped around Jack's throat. It pulled Jack toward it until he hung half way through the window. Agrastol pressed its hands on either of the captain's head, right over his ears.

Jack felt the tiny tendrils slither into his ear and punch through into his brain. Even though he knew what was happening, the cold fact that he was powerless to stop the beast from reading his mind threw him into a panic. He screamed as the tendrils crawled through his head and the pain tore through him as if his skull was being split into two.

Finally, Agrastol withdrew the tendrils and flung Jack back into the prison.

Landing face first on the smooth cold floor, Jack took a moment to catch his breath. Then he slowly climbed to his hands and knees as he touched his right ear. He looked at the fingers covered in blood and shot a look up at the monster on the other side of that window. His anger turned shock.

The Doctor double in the pinstripe suit closed its eyes and its body twisted and contorted, like putty made of flesh and blood. The pinstripe suit became a blue button up shirt and a military long coat. The face of the Doctor's tenth incarnation became that of Jack Harkness and it stared back through the window with a wicked grin.

"What...are you…going to do?" Jack asked between breaths but he didn't really have to ask. He already knew the answer.

"Don't worry," Agrastol said. "You'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I think I'll kill you again. Just for the hell of it."

Jack's eyes grew wide, but he was too weak from the assault on his mind to roll out of the way in time. Five tendrils shot out of the monster's chest and drove into Jack's body like five lances flying true.

He choked and twitched, and as the light faded from his eyes, he heard the Doctor cry out. "No!"

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To be continued.


	10. Chapter 10

"Heaven isn't going to help Jack," Gwen said with fierce determination. "We are."

"Changed your mind?" Owen asked and raised his eyebrows in a snarky manor.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing when he needs help." She gave him a stern look.

"What did you have in mind?" Ianto asked.

Gwen turned her head in thought for a moment, and then let her gaze fall on each of her teammates sitting around the conference table. "We may not know what kind of alien we're dealing with, but we know enough to work out a plan. So let's start with what we do know."

"Given that it looks like the Doctor, but isn't a Time Lord," Owen said with a thoughtful frown. "I'd say its a shapeshifter."

"So it can look like anyone?" Tosh asked with a worried look.

Owen nodded. "If that's what we're dealing with, then yeah."

"It's a start," Gwen said. "Let's gather everything we know about all the shapeshifters we have on file. I know this one isn't in our databases, but maybe we can find some common points that can help us."

"Bullets don't seem to work," Ianto said. "Owen shot it in the arm and didn't bother him too much."

"I know I shot him in the stomach too," Owen said. "Didn't even slow him down."

"So what do you suggest?" Gwen asked.

"Fire," Ianto said so matter-of-factly that he earned some raised eyebrow glances from his colleagues. "What?" He asked feeling a bit self-conscious. "Fire hurts everything, doesn't it?"

"We'll add flame throwers to the arsenal," Owen said with a shake of his head that made Ianto's suggestion seem ridiculous, but really Owen thought it was a damn fine idea.

Ianto didn't care at all what Owen thought. As far as he was concerned, Owen could go to Hell. Jack was in trouble, trapped on some spaceship somewhere in time, and that admittedly terrified him. Besides, he'd already planned on strapping a flame thrower on his back and burning that thing on sight.

"We know the alien is very strong," Tosh said. "I think I have an idea to counter that with electricity. If I can modify a taser to deliver enough of a shock, it may weaken him."

"Sounds like a great idea," Gwen said with a smile at the other woman. "How much of a notice will your tracker give us after the TARDIS lands in our time?"

"We should pick up the signal as soon as the time machine begins to materialize." She lowered her eyes. "Unfortunately, no sooner than that, I'm afraid."

"So basically," Owen said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "We're not going to know it's here until it's here. Perfect."

"If you have any other suggestions, then speak up!" Gwen glared impatiently at him.

Owen rolled his eyes and held up his hands. "Other than getting all our weapons and the SUV ready to go at a moment's notice, no. I don't have any other suggestions."

Gwen relaxed and nodded. "Then I think we all know what to do. Let's do it."

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Jack gasped in a breath of air and opened his eyes as life flowed through him once again. "That son of a bitch!" He sat up and shot a look at the window. His double was nowhere to be seen on the other side. He heard a soft moan next to him and he looked over.

The Doctor lay sprawled out on his back across the floor with his eyes closed, but was slowly stirring into consciousness. A nasty red mark traced across his cheek and extended over his left eye into his forehead. Blood oozed not from a cut, but from the skin itself along the length of the injury.

"Doctor?" Jack turned around focusing his attention on his injured friend. "What happened?" He didn't really need to ask. He knew from experience that the Doctor had been hit with something fast and hard. Judging by the shape of the mark, Jack guessed one of those tendrils was the culprit weapon.

The injured Time Lord rolled his head toward Jack and opened his eyes. Immediately, he closed his left eye. "Ow," he said as he traced the fresh wound with his fingertips.

"You tried to stop Agrastol from killing me, didn't you?" Jack asked.

The Doctor nodded slightly. "Yes." He drew in a sharp breath when he touched his eye. "I know you're immortal, Jack, but I just didn't want to see anymore killing. No more death. Especially not you, my friend."

Jack sighed deeply and shrugged off his over coat. He rolled it into a ball and gently lifted the Doctor's head, sliding the coat underneath as a make-shift pillow.

The Time Lord managed a small smile. "Thank you," he whispered.

The captain tossed the Doctor a wink and glared back at the window, the one way portal, in thought. He noticed something sitting on the floor underneath it. Without hesitation, he crawled over on his hands and knees to investigate and found bread. A hoagie roll to be exact. Sitting next to the bread was a bowl filled with water.

How insulting, Jack thought as he carefully picked up the bowl and carried it over to the Doctor. The bowl was unmistakably a dog bowl. Still, it had water and it appeared to be clean water at that. Just to be sure, Jack took a sip and waited. If it was poisoned, it should kill him any minute.

Mercifully, nothing happened and Jack deemed the water safe. "Hey, Doc," he said as he tapped his friend lightly on the shoulder. "I've got some water and bread for you."

The Doctor started by opening his good eye and when he saw Jack holding the bowl, he slowly lifted his head.

As he watched his old friend drink the water like he'd never had anything to drink before, Jack grew angry and silently cursed that shapeshifting monster. He vowed that somehow, someway, he would make Agrastol pay for what it's done not only to the people it murdered, but to this proud and free Time Lord that has saved so many.

He had to get out of here. "Doctor," he started to say.

"Oh no," the Doctor said. "I drank all the water. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack gave the Doctor a reassuring smile. "It's okay," he said. "Don't worry about it." He hardened his tone and didn't hide the desperation seeping in to his voice. "We have to think of a way to get out of here. Now come on! You're a genius, think of something."

The Time Lord blinked up at Jack a moment in confusion, but eventually he nodded. "I am that, a genius, aren't I?" He didn't sound too sure at first, but as he sat up and looked around the room, his felt his confidence return. The water helped tremendously and the chunk of bread he munched on restored enough of his energy to clear some of the fog in his head.

He offered some bread to Jack and when it was refused, he continued eating for another moment as he thought. Then his eyes fell on the vortex manipulator wrapped around Jack's wrist. Shoving the last of the bread in his mouth, he smiled wide. "You still have the vortex manipulator!"

Jack looked at the device and shrugged his shoulder. "Too bad somebody disabled the time travel part of it," he said with a playful wink and a smile.

"What was I thinking?" The Doctor shook his head and crossed his legs. "Take it off and empty your pockets. Let's see what we have."

"I've waited a long time to hear you say that," Jack said with a wide grin as he removed the vortex manipulator.

The Doctor sighed and shook his head slightly, then he smirked the way he always does when he's doing something particularly clever. "We may not be able to just pop on out of here, but we may be able to send a message." He dug into his own pockets and pulled out various items by the handful that included a bouncy ball, a plastic banana, a paper party hat and a small spool of wire. He dumped all the items, along with a few bits of pocket fuzz, on the floor in front of him.

Jack added his mobile phone, a small torch and a set of keys to the small pile. "So, who are you going to send a message to?" he asked as he watched the Doctor sort through the pile.

"My first thought was the Pond's," the Doctor said as he shoved the plastic banana and party hat back into his pocket. "But their stuck on that planet until I pick them up, so they won't be able to help this time. I am wondering if the Shadow Proclamation would forget about that little fuss I had with them not so long ago and come to my rescue. Not too sure about that though. Maybe UNIT instead."

The Time Lord laid the vortex manipulator across his knee and pulled off a length of wire from the spool. He then removed a small part from the manipulator and twisted the wire into the space that was left. "So much easier with my sonic screwdriver," he mumbled under his breath.

"I have an idea," Jack said. "Send a message to my team at Torchwood."

The Doctor paused and looked up at Jack with a scrutinizing gaze. He knew his old friend worked for that institution and that Jack has worked very hard to run Torchwood with the Doctor's beliefs in mind. But every time he heard that name, he thought of her and how he'd lost her. Still, that wasn't Jack's fault and it was true that his team had proved to be fighting for what's right. He relaxed his tense gaze. "How would they be able to help?"

"Agrastol looks like me now and if revenge is what it wants, then it might be heading back to the Hub," Jack said. "If we can let them know what's coming, they can be prepared and might even be able to stop it."

"That makes sense," the Time Lord said as he took apart the mobile phone and connected the needed part to other end of the wire. "And they would be able to get to us quicker than UNIT or the Shadow Proclamation." He nodded. "Alright, we'll send a message to your team. Now the question is, what exactly are we going to tell them? I don't think I can get more than about seven seconds with this."

"Hm. Do you know how to hurt Agrastol?" Jack asked carefully. He knew how the Doctor felt about hurting even his enemies, but he also knew that sometimes exceptions were made.

"Fire," the Doctor said evenly. "That may not kill it, but it will hurt it enough to get it back in here where it belongs. Aha!" He held up the small tangle of wire and components with a proud grin. "Cross time and space short message transmitter! I just made that up." He grinned.

Jack grinned too. Now he knew where the Doctor stood on the fate of Agrastol and it didn't involve killing it, but putting back in here where it belonged. A fate worse than death and a fate he rather agreed with.

At the sound of someone knocking on glass, both the Doctor and Jack looked at the window. On the other side, Jack's double stood with a wicked grin as it grabbed either side of the window. The view through the window spun and Jack realized that the monster was moving the mirror portal.

When the view stabilized, the ramp and exit doors in the console room were now clearly visible.

Agrastol stepped into view and smiled. "I'm about to land in Cardiff, Jack, and I wanted to make sure you had a good view as I tear apart your precious human friends. Doctor, I hope you enjoy the show." It slowly spun on its heel and disappeared out of view toward the center console.

Jack whipped his head around to the Doctor with worry spread across his face. "We'd better send that message and now."

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To be continued.


	11. Chapter 11

The Torchwood team waited anxiously for the signal from Tosh's tracker she had attached to the side of the Doctor's time machine. It had been six hours since they'd decided to do something, eight since Jack had been taken by the murderous creature posing as the famous, or infamous, Time Lord.

Once the weapons were gathered and the SUV prepped, the team had nothing left to do but wait. Tosh sat at the computer station and scanned the monitors. Ianto sat on the sofa and updated his journal. Owen sat on the coffee table in front of Ianto polishing his pistol, and Gwen slowly paced around the rift manipulator.

Finally, a sharp pulsing high pitched squeal sounded throughout the Hub and Tosh jumped to her feet with wide eyes as she focused on a monitor. "That's it!" She shouted and her teammates ran up behind her. She pressed a key on the keyboard and the siren fell silent.

"That's all the way across town," Owen said sounding a bit disappointed. "We'll never get there in time."

"Come on, then," Gwen said as she marched to the exit. "No time to lose."

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Shawna shivered in the chilled night air as a swift breeze brushed past her. She wished that she could have worn warmer clothing rather than too-short shorts and a beaded halter top, but warm clothing doesn't attract customers…not like she was having much luck with that anyway.

She sighed at the sight of Veronica climbing into some John's car just down the dark street. That left just her, all by herself, alone out there and she really didn't fancy that at all. Still, she stayed at her post and prayed that someone would come by and come by soon.

Another breeze brushed around her that made her teeth chatter. "Screw this," she said and was about to head home for the night when she heard a faint whooshing grinding noise echoing in the wind. She could have sworn the strange sound came from the alley halfway down the block and she focused her curious gaze on the entrance.

A man in a military styled overcoat walked out of the alley and came to a halt at the curb. He scanned the street and when his eyes fell on Shawna shivering under the streetlight, he quickly strode over to her. He shrugged off his overcoat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "There you go," he said soothingly. "Is that better?"

Shawna nodded and looked over this man that was treating her so kindly. He was gorgeous with friendly eyes and a dashing grin. The white bracers over a dark blue button up shirt only added to his charm. She smiled. "Thank you. I'm Shawna."

"Nice to meet you," he said as he put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. "I'm Jack Harkness." He began walking her toward the alley.

Her smile widened as she looked up at his handsome face and didn't really pay attention that she was walking at all until they turned down the alley. She looked over and her eyes fell on a large blue box with a public call sign glowing ominously across the top. Her smile faltered as she beheld the police box standing in the middle of the alley. "What's this?" she asked as she continued to walk with Jack up to the box.

He grabbed the handle and looked down at her with a dark grin. "My spaceship," he said and pushed the door open.

"Your wh-"

Jack grabbed Shawna by the arm and shoved her into the TARDIS with such force, she lost her footing in her high heels and collapsed to the floor.

"HELP!" She screamed as she climbed to her hands and knees.

Jack, or rather Agrastol, slammed the door shut behind it to keep her piercing shrieks from reaching the outside. It stalked over to the girl and kicked her hard enough in the stomach to lift her off the ground.

Shawna groaned in pain and clutched her stomach as she rolled over to her side in the fetal position. Tears of pain and terror streamed down her cheeks and she looked up at that face she once found attractive, but now found absolutely horrifying. "Please...let m-me go," she said between sobs.

Agrastol loomed over her and smiled. "No," it said with a laugh as a tentacle shot out from its back and wrapped around her throat. It loved the choking sound these humans made and it watched as the girl struggled to free herself from the tightly wound tendril to no avail. Such weak and easy prey, it thought.

With a shake of its head in mock disappointment of the human race, Agrastol dragged a kicking Shawna up the smooth ramp by her neck until it stood in front of the mirror. "Pretty good show so far, huh?" it said to its reflection.

It lifted Shawna until she stood on her feet and shoved her toward the mirror. She reached out her hands and caught the edges to stop from falling against it. The thought of broken glass cutting into her arm flashed across her mind.

"Too bad." Agrastol pressed against her back and whispered in her ear. "If you had fallen in, you would have saved your life." It reached out and tapped a hidden button on the side of the black mirror.

The reflective surface vanished becoming a window with two men on the other side; their faces seemed to float against the absolute blackness behind them. While the man in the tweed jacket looked on in horror as tears fell from his bright green eyes, the other looked like Jack and Shawna recoiled in terror at the sight of his face.

"Agrastol, you fucking bastard!" Jack screamed with such fury that the Doctor jumped simply because he didn't expect such an outburst. "Let her go!" Jack continued. "She has nothing to do with this!"

She didn't know what the Hell was going on. The Jack in the mirror…window…thing pounded on the glass and seemed genuinely angry about what was happening to her, while the Jack that kidnapped her seemed to really want to hurt her. Why did she have to get the evil twin, she bemoaned through her fear.

"Appetizer," Agrastol said to Jack and spun Shawna around pushing her back into the railing. She yelped in pain, but she couldn't straighten up as her attacker lunged forward and grabbed her by the hair on her head. It pulled her backwards over the railing forcing her to arch her back more and more until she screamed in agony, and it kept pulling.

The more it pulled her backward, the more she screamed and the more Jack in the window screamed. Suddenly, there was loud pop and a snap and Shawna fell silent, her body limp.

Agrastol's wide wicked grin fell when it realized she was dead. "Such weak creatures," it said with a look of disgust as it released its hold on her and let her body fall unceremoniously to the floor. "That was supposed to last longer." It shook its head and dragged Shawna's body down by the arm the ramp and tossed her out the door as carelessly as one would toss a bag of garbage.

It brushed its hands together and headed back to the mirror portal. "Don't worry. There's much more fun to come."

"You son of a bitch!" Jack glared at the monster with hate through tears of sadness at watching an innocent girl butchered in front of him. Never had he felt so helpless. No wonder why the Doctor fell into such a state of depression. After nearly a month of that, Jack was sure he would have ended up the same way.

Waving at the Doctor and Jack on the other side, Agrastol pressed two buttons on the side of the mirror silencing Jack's protests and activating the reflective sheen turning the window into a mirror once again. With that out of the way, it walked up to the console and flipped a switch.

The large circular view screen on the other side of the room flickered and showed the alley in front of the TARDIS. Agrastol glanced at the clock and frowned. Torchwood was taking their sweet time getting here, it thought as it crossed its arms in impatience.

Just when the monster had enough of the boredom and was about to send the time ship into the vortex, a bright light flashed from the large circular view screen. Looking up, Agrastol watched as the black Torchwood SUV pulled into the alley and its doors open. "It's about time," it said with a grin.

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Owen pulled the SUV into the alley and turned the engine off. "Here we are, kids," he said, a remark that earned him a sideways glance from Gwen sitting next to him. He left the headlights on to illuminate the alley and he noticed how pale the police box looked under the bright lights. Grabbing his shotgun, he climbed out of the SUV and nodded to Tosh, who carried a modified taser gun in her hand.

Gwen slid out of the SUV and held a pistol in each hand as she cautiously approached the police box. She knew that Ianto was right behind her, ready to use the flamethrower strapped to his back on a moment's notice.

As the four of them reached the front of the SUV, they fanned out, weapons aimed. They had all noticed the crumpled body of a woman laying twisted on the ground right in front of the time ship.

Gwen rushed forward to the body holstering a pistol while keeping the other trained on the blue door. She crouched over the body and pressed her fingers in the woman's neck. She almost flinched at how cold the corpse's skin felt. Confirming what she already knew, she quickly stood up and looked at the blue box with uncertainty.

She glanced back at her teammates and Owen nodded once. Turning back to the time ship, she swallowed with nervousness and reached out for the door handle. She tensed, prepared to dodge out of the way while fire, bullets and electricity was about to pour into the time ship.

Her fingers were centimeters away from the handle when suddenly the door flew open and a gray tentacle wrapped around her wrist, pulling her inside.

"Gwen!" Ianto shouted and ran forward with the flame thrower but knew he couldn't open fire.

Gun shots resounded from inside the blue box and then the door slammed closed. A gust of wind kicked up and the unmistakable sound of the ship's engines grinding to life echoed along the alleyway.

Ianto staggered backward to the SUV pressing his back against the wet front grill as he watched as the time ship slowly faded away. Once it was gone, he turned to Toshiko. "Do you have a trace on it, Tosh?"

Tosh pulled out her mobile device and shook her head as she stared at the small screen. "No, sorry," she said with a frown. "Wait," her frown turned into a smile, "I have a signal." She gasped when she realized where the TARDIS had landed.

"Well," Owen said as he climbed back into the SUV. "Where is it?"

Tosh looked up at Ianto and gulped. "The Hub."

"What?" Owen said in disbelief.

"Dammit," Ianto said and rushed back into the SUV. "Come on!" He shouted.

Tosh returned to the SUV and as she clicked her seat belt into place, a loud crackling noise screeched in her ear communicator. She almost ripped the device out of her ear when she recognized the voice. She glanced at her teammates and realized they were hearing the same message.

"Guys, its Jack. I don't have much time, so listen…"

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To be continued.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack turned away from the window and pressed his back against the wall as the Doctor sank to the floor until he sat with his knees pulled up to his chest. The captain looked down at the Time Lord and frowned. The man seemed so…broken. It was completely out of character for the Doctor he knew, but Jack also knew that starvation coupled with helplessness would do that to any brave soul and he felt it begin to settle within him as well.

He shook his head. He wasn't about to let Agrastol win, not when there's a chance of sending his team a message. Not when there was still a slim thread of hope. Jack crouched down in front of the Doctor and gently rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. "Doctor," he said with urgency. "We've got to send that message." He looked at the Doctor expectantly.

The Doctor looked up at Jack as if he'd completely forgotten all about that. The murder of that woman affected him deeply and it showed. But he saw the look of anger and determination on Jack's face and felt that determination he'd thought he'd lost spark within his chest and come to life. Suddenly, he felt ashamed for having lost it in the first place. He nodded and crawled over to the wire jumble that made up his make-shift transmitter.

As he made some final adjustments to the device, he tried to open his injured left eye that had been thankfully healing. He was able to open it all the way and it felt much better to have the use of both eyes again. He was thankful his body was such a quick healer. "Okay," he said. "It's ready…I think." He offered a smile meant to make those around him believe in his confidence, even if he wasn't so confident himself, but it was a sign of his usual self returning.

Jack sat down in front of the Doctor and crossed his legs. "I know what I'm going to say…I think." He winked.

The Doctor chuckled. "When I pushed this button," he pointed, "start talking. Ready in three, two, one."

Jack nodded with the countdown. "Guys, its Jack. I don't have much time, so listen. You're fighting a shapeshifter that looks like me. Hurt it with fire. We're trapped in a mirror in the TARDIS. Reach in and pull us out."

The transmitter popped and sent a sparks shooting out from the manipulator. With a small puff of smoke, the transmitter fizzled and they both knew that that was their one and only chance of sending a message. Any chance of getting it to work again was slim next to none.

"Do you think it worked?" Jack asked sounding as hopeful as he could muster.

The Doctor nodded. "Oh yes. It worked. Whether the whole message went through or if they even got it is another matter."

"Thanks for filling me with hope, Doc," Jack said with playful sarcasm.

"Sorry." The Time Lord dropped the now worthless transmitter to the floor. "Just being truthful."

"I know," said Jack as he looked at the window. "I guess all we can do now is wait."

The Time Lord sighed and propped himself up with his arm.

"Hey," Jack said as picked up his vortex manipulator and pulled the wires off it. "Why don't you tell me about the Ponds?"

The Doctor smiled fondly. "Amelia Pond. The girl who waited…"

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Gwen sucked in a breath when the tentacle suddenly come from seemingly out of nowhere and wrapped around her wrist. She staggered as she was yanked into the dark interior of the time ship and almost lost her footing. Without thinking twice, she raised her other hand holding a pistol and opened fire at the silhouetted man-shaped figure standing between her and the dim green light glowing from the raised console in the center of the room.

The silhouette jerked its shoulder back from the impact of a bullet and dodged this way and that to avoid the other bullets flying toward it. The clanging of the bullets finding homes in the console and wall behind it echoed through the room.

Gwen felt the terror creep up her spine as the thing came closer. She swallowed and fought to free her wrist from the soft fleshy tentacle that held her tight. Then her ear communicator zapped in her ear loud enough to make her involuntarily yelp. She couldn't do anything about the device in her ear with her hands full as they were, but through the crackling static, she heard a familiar voice and listened.

Wide-eyed, she stared at the thing sauntering down the ramp toward her and when it stood close, she could see the wickedly grinning face of Jack Harkness. But she knew the truth now thanks to the message, this was not Jack, it was the monster.

"Ooo, Gwen. Aren't you a delicious little thing?" The thing that was not Jack purred as it cupped Gwen's cheek in its hand and licked its lips.

She glared up at the monster with a fierce gaze. "Where's Jack?" She demanded in a low growl.

The thing raised its eyebrows in mock surprise. "So you know, huh?"

"I know you're some sort of shapeshifting alien monster," she said while holding her ground even as the imposter pressed against her and wrapped its arm around the small of her back. "Where's Jack and where's the Doctor?"

"They're…around," it said. "I'll show you, but first I need to put you on the end of a leash like a good little piece of meat."

A tendril sprouted from the alien's back and quickly whipped around Gwen's neck. It smiled, reveling at the choking sound she made when it squeezed that tendril just a little too tight. Turning around, Agrastol walked up the ramp to the mirror, yanking Gwen along behind it.

As she stumbled along in her steps, Gwen dropped her pistol, but she struggled to reach the handle of a knife she had strapped to the side of her shin. Even though she was being choked, the tendril was just tight enough to dig into her throat and didn't completely cut off her air. She wasn't even paying attention to where she was being led as she managed to wrap her fingers around the knife and shove it tip first up the sleeve of her jacket.

The tentacle around Gwen's neck stiffened slight as it pulled her up to a mirror. Agrastol tapped the two buttons on the side and the reflective sheen faded away. It knocked on the side of the mirror and grinned. "I'm going to love this," it said with amusement.

This is the mirror, Gwen realized and watched as two faces materialized out of the darkness inside. She didn't recognize the one face that wore a look of determined fury at the creature behind her, but there was Jack with anger and hurt underneath tears that streamed down his cheeks. "Jack!" She exclaimed and reached for his hand pressed on the glass on the other side.

"Gwen!" Jack yelled and for a moment looked hopeful that she would be able to reach him, to pull him out.

Suddenly, Gwen was yanked backward and hard. Her arms flailed out as she staggered under the strength of the tendril and she slammed into the railing. She felt the knife sliding out of her sleeve and she clasped her hand on her arm to hold it as she sank to her knees with a groan.

"If you hurt her, Agrastol." Jack pounded on the glass. "You bastard! I'll kill you! You hear me I'll kill you!"

"Oh?" Agrastol said smoothly and kept his gaze on Jack. "I'd like to see you try." It stepped over to the console, dragging Gwen across the smooth floor, and flipped a switch. The soft yellow lights illuminated the console room.

Then it pulled a couple of levers and hit a button. The TARDIS responded by lurching into the time vortex, the glass tubes in the center column rising and falling as if the time ship were drew a breath of her own.

Gwen coughed and wheezed as she climbed to her hands and knees only to receive a painful kick in the stomach for her efforts. She screamed at the sudden pain and settled into a few uncontrollable moans as she rolled onto her side.

"That's more like it," Agrastol said and it pressed its boot into the side of her head. "No getting up until I yank you up." It didn't wait for her to respond, it simply pressed a little harder until she let out a gritted scream and then it lifted its boot off her face.

Satisfied, Agrastol sauntered over to the mirror portal and grinned at the angry faces that glared back at it. Using the tendril, it dragged Gwen across the floor until she lay at the base of the mirror.

"Gwen!" Jack shouted. His voice filled with worry at the sight of the dirty scuff on her cheek.

She lifted her head and despised the tears that streamed down her cheeks. She didn't want to be crying, she felt that she should be strong for Jack, but she just couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Still, the tears did not stop her from plotting and she realized that all she had to do was reach out and grab Jack.

She chanced a glance at Agrastol and when she saw that the monster was focused on the large circular viewer on the wall, she thrust her arm into the mirror. While she was fascinated that the surface of the glass rippled like water, she was relieved when she felt Jack grab her hand. Gripping Jack's wrist, she pulled with all her strength, using her feet on the base of a railing post for support.

Jack managed to grip the edge of the mirror and pulled his head through the portal down to his chest. He was almost out and it didn't matter that he had no plan on how to battle the monster, but at that moment, it didn't matter. It should have.

Agrastol, having felt all the movement on the end of its tentacle, glanced back at Gwen and was astonished to see Jack halfway out of mirror. It snarled and sprouted an array of tentacles that shot forward like javelins and drove through Jack's body.

"Agrastol!" The Doctor yelled from inside the mirror, the frustration of being so trapped thick in his angry voice.

"Jack!" Gwen screamed as she was splattered with his blood. With skill that comes only from being a Torchwood agent, she let the knife fall into her hand and she swiped the blade into the tentacle holding her by the throat.

Agrastol screeched in pain as the severed tentacle whipped about spraying thick black in every direction. The other tentacles snapped back out of Jack's stricken chest and slapped him hard across his shocked face. His lifeless body fell back into the prison landing flat on his back with a disheartening thud.

In an instant, Agrastol was kneeling next to Gwen on the floor. It grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed with its mighty strength until she screamed and let the knife fall from her hand. "Naughty girl," it said as it raised its other hand clinched in a tight fist.

Gwen's eyes widened and she was utterly helpless as the fist slammed into the side of her head and conscious fled her mind leaving her alone in the darkness.

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To be continued.


	13. Chapter 13

Inside the tiny shop on the dock that served as a cover for a secret entrance into the Hub, Owen held his hand on the door that led downstairs and made sure his teammates were ready. He nodded once and opened the door standing back to make room for Ianto.

Once Ianto was through, Owen and Tosh followed close behind and Owen made sure the door was shut and locked tight behind him before proceeding down into the Hub. The three walked briskly to the round door and Tosh tapped the button.

The door creaked and popped like it normally does as it rolled into the wall and Ianto rushed through the cell door as it swung open. He aimed the nozzle of the flame thrower to the left knowing Tosh was directly on his right with her taser. When he spotted the blue police box parked next to the rift manipulator, he held up his fist signaling everyone to stop.

"Guys!" Jack said as he bound from his office with a wide smile and his arms spread in welcome.

With a hard determined look, Ianto trained the flame thrower on the thing that looked like Jack and waited for Tosh and Owen.

Jack paused and frowned with concern. "Ianto. What are you doing?"

"Sorry," Ianto said flatly. "You're not Jack." He pulled the trigger and flames shot out of nozzle enveloping the Jack imposter in an impressive ball of fire.

The alien staggered back and shrieked a high pitched squeal of pain and surprise that echoed throughout the Hub.

Ianto released the trigger and stared at the creature that had Jack's face as it twisted and writhed. Parts of its body shifted shape uncontrollably as it frantically tried to put out the flames that still clung to it.

Tosh, Owen and Ianto watched the alien with disturbed expressions as tendrils sprouted from its back and Jack's face contorted into…something else. Eye stalks pushed out from the where human-like eyes once were and its now enlarged mouth frowned as it glared at them with a barely recognizable look of questioning confusion.

"Jack sent us a message," Owen said. "Warning us about you."

Agrastol's expression shifted to pure hatred as it cursed Jack and especially the Doctor. Only that retched Time Lord could have managed to send a message outside that prison, and for that, he would pay. The alien spun on its heel and rushed for the safety of the TARDIS.

Ianto unleashed another ball of fire that brushed across Agrastol's back.

The shapeshifter screamed and fell against the blue doors that swung open under its weight. It half crawled, half staggered into the time ship and finally fell to its hands and knees. Using its tendrils, it slammed the doors shut. Breathing heavily, it took a moment to catch its breath.

Wincing in pain from the scorching fire, it climbed to its feet and made its way over to the mirror. As it walked, it focused on changing its shape to something better suited to the task of finally killing that damned Time Lord once and for all.

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Jack opened his eyes and drew in a deep breath. He was alive again and that bastard killed him for the third and, hopefully, last time. He sat up and immediately looked at the window. The Doctor was standing there, looking out with his palm pressed on the glass and a forlorn expression. Then Jack remembered what happened.

"Gwen!" He said as he jumped to his feet and returned to the window.

"She seems to be okay," the Doctor said as he looked down her still form lying on the floor at the base of the mirror. "Agrastol knocked her out after he killed you."

"Oh my god," Jack said in a whisper when he saw the mean scrap across her cheek.

"We've landed in the Torchwood Hub," the Doctor said and gave a Jack a worried look.

"It's planning an ambush."

"Yes," the Time Lord nodded, "but it doesn't know what we know."

"That my team knows what they're up against." Jack smiled. "How long has he been out there?"

"Six minutes." He glanced at Jack. "You didn't take as long to come back this time."

"Yeah." The captain nodded. "I don't why it's different each time, but I don't have any control over it."

A faint moan drew their attention to Gwen. She stirred and slowly blinked her eyes open.

"Gwen!" Jack shouted sounding happier than had been since this whole mess started.

She lifted her head and immediately regretted it. She groaned as she looked at the mirror. "Jack? Are you alright?" She sat up and rubbed the side of her head. She grimaced in pain.

"Pull us out of here, Gwen," the Doctor said with urgency. "Hurry!"

She still felt awfully sluggish, but she thrust her arm into the mirror and Jack grabbed her arm.

A shrieking scream right outside the TARDIS doors startled Gwen and she whipped her head around to stare at the door in horror. Her first reaction was that the monster was killing her friends, but as her pain and fear riddled mind mulled over the sound, she realized how inhuman the scream sounded; it was the monster.

The exit doors flew open and in staggered a blackened, shrieking thing with tendrils extended out from what might be its back and each frantically whipped about in every direction.

Jack didn't have time to finish climbing out, so he released Gwen's arm and she looked at him in confusion, but when she saw his face, she understood.

"Run!"

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Agrastol paused and glared at the floor in front of the mirror. That human bitch was missing from where it'd left her lying unconscious and it cursed itself for taking the time to properly tie her up. No matter, it thought, she can hide all she wants, she will get her turn soon enough.

Looking at its reflection in the mirror, it noticed the scorch marks on its arm and chest. It closed its eyes and the scorch marks vanished. Satisfied, Agrastol adjusted the red bowtie around his neck with a dark smirk and brushed the sleeves of the tweed jacket with a few flicks of its fingers.

Pressing a button on the side of the mirror, the reflective shine vanished and it smiled at the worried expressions on its prisoners faces. "I'm going to kill you for that, Time Lord," it said with fierce conviction and a tentacle shot out from its chest wrapping tight around the Doctor's throat. A second tentacle sprouted out if its chest and hung rigid in the air, poised to strike the Doctor's chest.

The TARDIS engines groaned loud enough to make Agrastol pause and glare at the center console, and the blue doors flew open on their own with an echoing bang. The monster stared at the entrance in disbelief as Ianto marched into the time ship with that flame thrower ready to fire. "Fucking ship," it said under its breath. It knew that the living ship had acted out on its own to save its pilot.

Ianto was followed by Tosh and Owen, and each of them brandished a weapon of potential harm. Owen now carried a flame thrower as well with a look on his face made it clear to Agrastol that the man was eager to use it, and Tosh held the modified taser in front of her as she stared wide eyes at Agrastol.

Fire bellowed toward Agrastol and it released its hold on the Doctor inside the prison to scramble around the console for cover. It had no weapons other than its lightening quick tendrils, and sprouted a dozen from his back and four from his chest. Using an eye stalk, it peeked over the console and saw Ianto on the other side aiming the flame thrower toward it.

Gwen darted from her hiding place in the bundles of wires underneath the glass floor and ran around to the ramp. She vaulted over the railing and slid to a halt in front of the mirror.

She gasped at the sight of Jack holding the other man, whose body lolled unconsciously in Jack's arms. She realized that she hadn't caught the name of that man, but whoever he is; Jack obviously cares for him very much. Something told her that man was the Doctor. With a firm grip on the edge of the mirror, she reached through the portal that rippled like water around her arm. "Jack!" She shouted to get his attention.

Agrastol dashed out from the console and whipped several tentacles around at Ianto like whip.

Ianto gritted his teeth and unleashed another ball of fire, not caring that the flames poured over the console like water. "Come on, you son of a bitch!"

Owen came up the other ramp and opened fire with his flame thrower. The monster darted under it and through the railing to the level below, but Tosh was there to intercept. She aimed her taser and fired.

The tiny darts struck home in the alien's side and the jolt of electricity was enough to bring it to its knees. Agrastol howled in pain and clawed at the darts barbed into its skin. It lost control of its form and its body contorted as it formed and reformed various features from all the creatures it had impersonated in its long lifetime.

Owen and Ianto ran back down the ramp and taking turns bathing the monster in fire as it staggered out from underneath the glass floor. Its shrieks and screams echoed throughout the TARDIS as it fell and slowly crawled toward the exit in a desperate attempt to survive.

Standing side by side, Ianto and Own aimed the nozzles at the alien.

"Stop!"

The intensity of the voice prompted Ianto and Own to release the triggers on the flame throwers, and Tosh paused with her taser in hand. All eyes turned up to the source of the voice.

There stood the Doctor, his hands held the railing tight to keep from falling. Jack and Gwen stood on either side of him as he glared at the writhing fiery mass that is Agrastol. For a moment, the Doctor stood still and watched the murderous beast that held him prisoner moan in agony. He contemplated standing there and letting it burn.

Then he nodded to Gwen, who held a small fire extinguisher in her hands, and she jogged down the ramp and sprayed Agrastol while keeping a safe distance from the thing.

Agrastol groaned in relief and chose to lie still a moment allowing the cool, white foam blanket its misshapen and scorched form. It wanted to kill the Doctor now more than ever. All of this was his fault and he should pay. As it lay there, its damaged body began to mend.

The Doctor grabbed the mirror and carried it down the ramp. He sat the mirror down in front of Agrastol. When the twisted creature finally lifted its grotesque head, the Time Lord spoke in a dark tone. "If you want to save your life, get inside."

"No!" Agrastol spat as it climbed to its hands and knees. "I'm never going back in there! I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Are you sure?" The Doctor glared at the monster. "Are you really, really sure about that, Agrastol?"

It looked up at Owen and Ianto standing ready with their foul flame throwers, and Tosh with that retched taser gun. It glared at Jack and Gwen as they approached, wishing it had killed that bitch as soon as it dragged her inside. Worst of them all was that Time Lord. Pain drove it mad, but it was hatred that fueled its brash act.

With a screeching shriek, Agrastol lurched toward the Doctor, tentacles rigid and straight like arrows aimed for its most hated enemy. Fire washed over Agrastol and its shriek of battle turned to a scream of pain. The tendrils lost their rigidity and became frantically waving whips.

The Doctor dove forward with the mirror held in front of him like a shield and landed on Agrastol allowing the portal to open around the monster and pull it back into the dark prison once again.

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To be continued.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this story. Your favs, follows and reviews mean a lot to me, thank you!**

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The Doctor climbed to his feet and lifted the mirror off the floor. He pivoted it around so he could he see inside and regarded the angrily flailing Agrastol on the other side, locked away in the prison where it belonged. "You didn't think I was going to let you die, did you?" he said with a sadness in his green eyes that seemed almost cruel.

Agrastol snarled and hissed in reply, its fury devolving it into a mindless beast bent only on the kill of its most hated enemy.

With a sigh, the Doctor pressed two buttons on the side of the portal. The reflective sheen returned across the glass and the angry sounds from within muted into silence. He looked up at Jack and smiled a small smile.

It was over at last.

"Jack," Gwen said and she rested her hand on his arm as tears streamed down her cheeks.

The captain turned to her and enveloped her in his arms burying his face in her hair as he let tears of his own fall. After a moment, he stood back and held her by the shoulders at arm's length. With a proud smile, he looked into her eyes. "Thank you."

She nodded and smiled. It was all she could manage through her tears and overwhelmed emotions.

He looked over at the rest of his team. "Thank you," he said and smiled at their nods.

The Doctor watched Jack with a proud smile. He was happy that his old friend had people he could share his life with on such an emotional level. Jack deserved that after everything the Doctor has, and will, put him through. Jack had good friends, and so did he.

The Time Lord spun on his heel and leaned the mirror against the railing. "TARDIS!" He shouted as he dashed up the ramp. He almost yelled 'Sexy', but caught himself at the last minute. He draped across the center console with arms spread wide in an awkward sort of hug and the ship sighed in relief.

Jack laughed as Owen, Tosh, Gwen and Ianto stared curiously at the Time Lord.

"Jack," Gwen pointed at the Time Lord currently brushing his fingers over the console in a loving caress, "is that the Doctor?"

The captain nodded. "Yes, he's the Doctor. Come on. I'll introduce all of you." He led the way up the ramp to his old friend. "Doctor," he said with a wide grin. "If you have a minute…"

The Doctor looked over, his lips still pressed on the side of the small monitor, and abruptly stepped back clearing his throat. He felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment. "I, umm, haven't seen the old girl in a bit," he said and nervously tugged on the end of his tattered tweed jacket.

"Doctor, this is Gwen." Jack shook his head slightly with a smile at the Doctor's red cheeks and found it rather cute. He realized that while he knew the Doctor, he didn't really know this man, but he liked what he saw, strange habits and all.

"Gwen, hi!" The Doctor placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed the air on either side of her head. "Thank you so much. You are terrific as always!"

"I'm sorry," she said looking quite confused that he seemed to know her already. "Have we met before?" She'd only seen photos of the Doctor, mostly of him wearing the pinstripe suit, but she was sure she had never met him.

"Oh." He held up a pointing finger that fell into a curl and frowned as if he'd made a mistake. "Right. Well, we will in your future and my past. Look, when we meet…again, just don't tell me that we've met before or it'll get all time whimey wibbly wobbley. Act like we've just met and don't worry, you'll do great!"

"Okay." Gwen smiled and nodded figuring that was the best thing to do in response.

"This is Ianto," Jack said to the Doctor and motioned over to Ianto.

Ianto held out his hand to the Doctor and smiled as the alien kissed the air by his head like with Gwen.

"And the same goes for you," the Doctor said to Ianto and abruptly turned his attention to Tosh and Owen. He kissed the air around Tosh, but Owen held up his hand in protest when it was his turn.

"A hand shake is more my cup of tea," Owen said and shook the Doctor's hand, noting that the Time Lord's hand was cool to the touch.

"Please, lay down your weapons, you don't need them anymore," the Doctor said as he looked at the Torchwood team with an inviting smile. "Oh, and Gwen," he spun on his heel and dropped to his knees in front of the console, "I have something that should help that nasty scrape." He pulled out a small box and rummaged around inside it a moment.

"Aha!" The Time Lord jumped up to his feet and held up a small spray bottle in one hand and a banana in the other. "I picked this up in New New York. The spray, not the banana. Now close your eyes, the Doctor is in."

Gwen closed her eyes and turned her cheek toward the Doctor. He stuck his tongue out slightly as he sprayed a light mist that covered the side of her face. He watched in fascination, along with Jack and the Torchwood team, as the wound healed perfectly in mere seconds.

"There!" The Doctor tossed the spray bottle back in the box and stuffed most of the banana in his mouth. "Goof ash noo!"

Gwen's eyes fluttered open and she ran her fingers over her cheek with the expected look of amazement. "Thank you," she said. "That feels wonderful."

"Huh," Owen said with a raised eyebrow. "I should stock up on that stuff."

"Right!" The Time Lord turned around and flipped a couple of switches as he strode around the console. "You don't mind if we pop on over and pick up the Ponds, do you?" The Doctor looked at each of the Torchwood members with a hopeful grin.

Jack, giddy as a child at his own birthday party, jogged down the ramp to the exit doors. "You bet, Doc!" He closed the doors and jogged back up the ramp. He looked at his team. "You guys are going to love this."

Spinning in a complete circle on his heel, the Doctor faced the console with a manic grin and pulled a level here, flipped a switch there, all in a not-so-graceful dance around the console panel. It didn't matter, he was happy and free once again.

The TARDIS, glad to have her Time Lord back at her console, whirred to life and flew into the time vortex.

"So," Jack said with a raised eyebrow and jabbed a thumb toward the mirror. "What's going to happen with that?"

"Oh that?" The Doctor smirked with a dark look in his eye. "I have just the place for that."

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A short time later.

"There," the Doctor said as he set the mirror in an ornate iron stand. He stood back and admired the new addition to the Wardrobe Room.

"I thought about putting you in a dark room all by yourself, Agrastol," he said cheerfully. "But then I thought, 'what a waste of a perfectly good mirror', especially one made by my own people. So I fixed it so no one can accidentally let you out again. Only I can operate the control panel with this." He tapped his chin with the clawed end of his sonic screwdriver.

"Look at the bright side, you won't be alone anymore. Oh, and I won't be talking to myself in here anymore either, which is good because I think the Ponds were getting a little worried about me." He stared at his reflection knowing that just on the other side, a monster glared back at him with hate in its numerous eyes.

The Doctor smiled and his reflection smiled back at him.

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End.


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